Hello everybody and welcome back to Retro Gamer Diaries. I want to continue my computer gaming history by talking about Sir Clive Sinclair. Legend.
Who is this man you say...well Sir Clive is an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known for being a pioneer in the computing industry and also as the founder of several companies that developed consumer electronics in the 1970s and early 1980s. His inventions covered the world's first slimline electronic pocket calculator (the Sinclair Executive) in 1972, wrist watches and portable TVs.
Sinclair then moved into the production of home computers in 1980 with Sinclair Research Ltd, producing the Sinclair ZX80 (the UK's first mass-market home computer for less than £100) and in the early 1980s, the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and the Sinclair QL. Sinclair Research is widely recognised for its importance in the early days of the British and European home computer industry, as well as helping to give rise to the British video game industry.
However, for me he's the daddy of the ZX Sinclair Spectrum and all those brilliant games I played for days and days during the early 80s. I still have fond memories of Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Linar Jetpac, Hunchback, Ghostbusters, Ant Attack! and so on. I also spent many an hour trying to programme basic code from my computer magazines into those rubbery buttons. The games were very basic but I felt at the time I was a computer game programmer. These were the days where these new & cheap home computers allowed millions of people to discover for themselves what a computer was about and these days were pure magic!
However, I have to say it was not all plain sailing for Sir Clive. Sinclair had several commercial failures, including the Sinclair Radionics Black Watch wristwatch, the C5 battery electric vehicle, and the Sinclair Research TV80 flatscreen CRT handheld television set. Blimey that C5! Come on Clive...really!
The failure of the C5, along with a weakened computer market, forced Sinclair to sell most of his companies by 1986. In particular Allan Sugar of Amstrad.
Through 2010, Sinclair concentrated on personal transport, including the A-bike, a folding bicycle for commuters which was small enough to fit in a handbag. He also developed the Sinclair X-1, a revised version of the C5 electric vehicle, which never made it to the market.
Sinclair was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1983 Birthday Honours for his contributions to the personal computer industry in the UK.
Therefore, I wanted to dedicate this episode to story of Sir Clive Sinclair. Legend!
