1. Sir Clive Marles Sinclair was an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known for being a pioneer in the computing industry and as the founder of several companies that developed consumer electronics in the 1970s and early 1980s.
39 Facts About Clive Sinclair
1. 2.
Clive Sinclair produced the world's first slimline electronic pocket calculator in 1972.
3.
Clive 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.
4.
The failure of the C5, along with a weakened computer market, forced Clive Sinclair to sell most of his companies by 1986.
5.
Clive Sinclair developed the Sinclair X-1, a revised version of the C5 electric vehicle, which never made it to the market.
6.
Clive Sinclair was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1983 Birthday Honours for his contributions to the personal computer industry in the UK.
7.
Clive Sinclair's grandfather George Sinclair was a naval architect who got the paravane, a mine sweeping device, to work.
8.
Clive Sinclair's father suggested he train as an engineer first; Bill became a mechanical engineer and remained in the field.
9.
Clive Sinclair was born to George Sinclair and Thora Edith Ella Marles on 30 July 1940, in Ealing, Middlesex.
10.
Clive Sinclair's brother Iain was born in 1943 and his sister Fiona in 1947.
11.
Clive Sinclair had little interest in sports and found himself out of place at school.
12.
Clive Sinclair had branched out from machine tools and planned to import miniature tractors from the US; he had to give up the business.
13.
Clive Sinclair applied for a holiday job at Mullard and took one of his circuit designs; he was rejected for precociousness.
14.
Clive Sinclair estimated producing 1,000 a month, placing orders with suppliers for 10,000 of each component to be delivered.
15.
Clive Sinclair wrote a book for Bernard's Publishing, Practical transistor receivers Book 1, which appeared in January 1959.
16.
The last book Clive Sinclair wrote as an employee of Bernard's was Modern Transistor Circuits for Beginners, published in May 1962.
17.
Clive Sinclair made two attempts to raise startup capital to advertise his inventions and buy components.
18.
Clive Sinclair appeared in the publication as an assistant editor in March 1962.
19.
Clive Sinclair described making silicon planar transistors, their properties and applications and hoped they might be available by the end of 1962.
20.
Clive Sinclair undertook a survey of semiconductor devices for Instrument Practice, which appeared in four sections between September 1962 and January 1963.
21.
Clive Sinclair contacted Semiconductors Ltd and ordered rejects to repair.
22.
Clive Sinclair produced a design for a miniature radio powered by a couple of hearing aid cells and made a deal with Semiconductors to buy its micro-alloy transistors at 6d each in boxes of 10,000.
23.
Clive Sinclair then carried out his own quality control tests, and marketed his renamed MAT 100 and 120 at 7s 9d and 101 and 121 at 8s 6d.
24.
The ZX80 was immediately successful, and besides sales in the UK, Clive Sinclair sought to introduce the computer into the United States.
25.
In January 1983, American news magazine Time named the personal computer the 1982 "Machine of the Year," and Clive Sinclair was one of six individuals from the computing industry who were spotlighted in the accompanying feature.
26.
Clive Sinclair had an interest in electric vehicles since the 1970s at Clive Sinclair Radionics, and had been working with Tony Wood Rogers, a former Radionics employee, since 1979 to start developing prototypes of a new vehicle for the market.
27.
The Clive Sinclair C5 was considered a significant failure, having been developed without any market research.
28.
However, towards the end of 1984, the market for personal computers in the United Kingdom became cautious; Clive Sinclair Research had entered into a small price war with Acorn Computers.
29.
The price drops meant that consumers saw these computers as more toys rather than productivity tools, and Clive Sinclair Research missed its planned sales milestones for the 1984 holiday season.
30.
In 1997, he invented the Clive Sinclair XI, which was a radio the size of a 10p coin.
31.
Clive Sinclair received several honours for his contributions towards helping establish the personal computer industry in the United Kingdom.
32.
Clive Sinclair was knighted in the Queen's 1983 Birthday Honours List.
33.
Clive Sinclair was a poker player and appeared in the first three series of the Late Night Poker on Channel 4.
34.
Clive Sinclair won the first series final of the Celebrity Poker Club spin-off.
35.
Clive Sinclair had an IQ of 159, and was a member of Mensa, and chairman from 1980 to 1997.
36.
Clive Sinclair participated in marathons including several New York City Marathons.
37.
In 2010 Clive Sinclair married Angie Bowness, a former dancer at a Stringfellows nightclub and who represented England for Miss Europe 1995.
38.
On 16 September 2021, Clive Sinclair died in London following an illness related to cancer that he had for over a decade.
39.
Clive Sinclair was remembered on his death for his contributions towards computing and video games by numerous people, including Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, the Oliver Twins, Debbie Bestwick, Charles Cecil, and David Braben.