Sir Clive Sinclair, brilliant inventor who brought home computing to the ...

Sir Clive Sinclair, brilliant inventor who brought home computing to the ...
Sir Clive Sinclair, brilliant inventor who brought home computing to the ...

With his bald head, beard and glasses, he was the archetypal boffin, But Sir Clive Sinclair, who has died at the age of 81, came up with such eccentric inventions — and had such a colourful love life — that he became a national treasure.

Sir Clive most recently hit the headlines for an ill-fated marriage to a lap dancer 36 years his junior, but the man who made a fortune as Britain's father of the home computer is perhaps best remembered for the bizarre electric trike that lost him millions.

When he launched the battery-powered C5 in 1985, he thought he had found the answer to traffic problems and hoped to sell 100,000 in the first year, but the public were unenthused by the idea of sitting in an ugly contraption at exhaust level, with an engine originally designed for a washing machine.

They were seen as both ludicrous and dangerous — as they were below the sight line of motorists — and only 5,000 were sold after being ridiculed as a poor man's Reliant Robin. Sinclair Vehicles duly went into receivership.

With his bald head, beard and glasses, he was the archetypal boffin, But Sir Clive Sinclair, who has died at the age of 81, came up with such eccentric inventions — and had such a colourful love life — that he became a national treasure

With his bald head, beard and glasses, he was the archetypal boffin, But Sir Clive Sinclair, who has died at the age of 81, came up with such eccentric inventions — and had such a colourful love life — that he became a national treasure

But Sinclair refused to grow old gracefully. Apparently never much concerned what people thought of him, when he married for a second time in 2010, it was to blonde lap dancer Angie Bowness whom he had met at the Soho nightclub Stringfellows.

To no one's surprise the marriage broke down seven years later, but the then 76-year-old Sir Clive was soon seen out on the town with another woman on his arm, this time his 69-year-old former secretary Elaine Millar.

The foundation of his fortune was the ZX Spectrum. This clunky-looking computer with its Blu Tack-coloured rubbery keys captivated an entire generation of — mostly — boys with now iconic games such as Chuckie Egg, Atic Atac and Manic Miner.

Although parents were persuaded to buy it on the grounds it was educational, most remember it as the device that introduced them to the joys of computer gaming. Indeed, Sinclair could justifiably claim to be the father of today's billion-dollar gaming industry, which has taken on Hollywood at the entertainment game — and won.

But his first major success was inventing a series of pocket calculators at a time when most calculators were the size of a shop till. 'He wanted to make things small and cheap so people could access them,' his daughter Belinda said.

Sinclair, ironically, didn't use a calculator, preferring to rely on a slide rule. He told interviewers that he did not even use a computer.

After pocket calculators, his next success was the first home computer, the ZX80, which appeared in 1980, developed by his Cambridge-based company that was later called Sinclair Research.

It was among the first computers to retail at less than £100, at £79.95 in kit form or £99.95 assembled —about one fifth of the price of other home computers and far more user-friendly. Up to then, computers were largely for scientists and nerds. Sinclair made them accessible to the general public.

It was a bestseller and he followed it up with the ZX81 the next year. This had 1k of memory — 16k if you added an extension to the memory. This is a risibly small amount now — a single emoji uses the same — but at the time it was enough memory to support an entire operating system on which users could play games, such as Monster Maze. It sold more than 250,000 units.

Sinclair  married for a second time in 2010, wedding  blonde lap dancer Angie Bowness (pictured) whom he had met at the Soho nightclub Stringfellows

Sinclair  married for a second time in 2010,

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