Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81 - The Guardian

Sir Clive Sinclair, the inventor and entrepreneur who was instrumental in bringing home computers to the masses, has died at the age of 81.

Sinclair invented the pocket calculator but was best known for popularising the home computer, bringing it to British high-street stores at relatively affordable prices.

Belinda Sinclair, 57, told the Guardian: “He was a rather amazing person.

His first home computer, the ZX80, named after the year it appeared, revolutionised the market, although it was a far cry from today’s models.

But it flopped, and Sinclair Vehicles found itself in receivership by October of the same year.

The following year, Sinclair sold his computer business to Amstrad.

And although they do not look like the Sinclair C5, which later acquired cult status, electric vehicles are, of course, all the rage today.

Belinda Sinclair said: “It was the ideas, the challenge, that he found exciting.