Sir Clive Sinclair

Sir Clive Marles Sinclair (30 July 1940 – 16 September 2021) was 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.

After spending several years as assistant editor of ''Instrument Practice'', Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics Ltd in 1961. He produced the world's first slimline electronic pocket calculator (the Sinclair Executive) in 1972. 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.

Sinclair also had several commercial failures, including the Sinclair Radionics Black Watch wristwatch, the Sinclair Vehicles C5 battery electric vehicle, and the Sinclair Research TV80 flatscreen CRT handheld television set. The failure of the C5 along with a weakened computer market forced Sinclair to sell most of his companies by 1986. 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.

Early life, family and education

Sinclair's father and grandfather were engineers; both had been apprentices at the shipbuilders Vickers. His grandfather George Sinclair was a naval architect who got the '' paravane'', a mine sweeping device, to work. George Sinclair's son, George William "Bill" Sinclair, wanted to take religious orders or become a journalist. His father suggested he train as an engineer first; Bill became a mechanical engineer and remained in the field. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he was running his own machine tools business in London, and later worked for the Ministry of Supply.

Clive Sinclair was born to George Sinclair and Thora Edith Ella Marles in 1940 in Ealing, then in Middlesex (now in west London). He and his mother left London for safety to stay with an aunt in Devon, where they eventually moved to Teignmouth. A telegram arrived shortly afterwards, bringing the news that their home in Ealing had been bombed. Sinclair's father found a house in Bracknell in Berkshire. His brother Iain was born in 1943 and his sister Fiona in 1947.

Sinclair attended Boxgrove Preparatory School, excelling in mathematics. Sinclair had little interest in sports and found himself out of place at school. By the time he was ten, his father had financial problems. He had branched out from machine tools and planned to import miniature tractors from the U.S.; he had to give up the business. Because of his father's problems, Sinclair had to move school several times. After a time at Reading School, Sinclair took his O-levels at Highgate School in London in 1955, and his A-levels and S-levels in physics, pure maths, and applied maths at St. George's College, Weybridge.

During his early years, Sinclair earned money mowing lawns and washing up in a café, earning 6d (2½p) more than the permanent staff. Later he went for holiday jobs at electronic companies. At Solartron he inquired about the possibility of electrically propelled personal vehicles. Sinclair applied for a holiday job at Mullard and took one of his circuit designs; he was rejected for precociousness. While still at school he wrote his first article for ''Practical Wireless''.

After he left school at the age of 18, he sold miniature electronic kits by mail order to the hobby market.

Career

Sinclair Radionics

Sinclair's Micro Kit was formalised in an exercise book dated 19 June 1958, three weeks before his A-levels. Sinclair drew a radio circuit, Model Mark I, with a components list: cost per set 9/11 (49½p), plus coloured wire and solder, nuts and bolts, plus celluloid chassis (drilled) for nine shillings (45p). Also in the book are the advertisement rates for ''Radio Constructor'' at the time (9d (3¾p)/word, minimum 6/- (30p)) and ''Practical Wireless'' (5/6 (27½p) per line or part line). Sinclair estimated producing 1,000 a month, placing orders with suppliers for 10,000 of each component to be delivered.

Sinclair wrote a book for Bernard's Publishing, ''Practical transistor receivers Book 1'', which appeared in January 1959. It was re-printed late that year and nine times subsequently. His practical stereo handbook was published in June 1959 and reprinted seven times over 14 years. The last book Sinclair wrote as an employee of Bernard's was ''Modern Transistor Circuits for Beginners'', published in May 1962. At Bernard Babani, he wrote 13 constructor books.

In 1961, Sinclair registered Sinclair Radionics Ltd. His original choice, ''Sinclair Electronics'', had been taken; ''Sinclair Radio'' was available but did not sound right. Sinclair Radionics was formed on 25 July 1961. Sinclair made two attempts to raise startup capital to advertise his inventions and buy components. He designed PCB kits and licensed some technology. Then he took his design for a miniature transistor pocket radio and sought a backer for its production in kit form. Eventually he found someone who agreed to buy 55% of his company for £3,000, but the deal didn't finalise.

Sinclair, unable to find capital, joined United Trade Press (UTP) as technical editor of ''Instrument Practice''. Sinclair appeared in the publication as an assistant editor in March 1962. Sinclair described making silicon planar transistors, their properties and applications and hoped they might be available by the end of 1962. Sinclair undertook a survey of semiconductor devices for ''Instrument Practice'', which appeared in four sections between September 1962 and January 1963.

His last appearance as assistant editor was in April 1969. Through UTP, Sinclair had access to thousands of devices from 36 manufacturers. He contacted Semiconductors Ltd (who at that time sold semiconductors made by Plessey) and ordered rejects to repair. He 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 (2½p) each in boxes of 10,000. He then carried out his own quality control tests, and marketed his renamed MAT 100 and 120 at 7s 9d (38¾p) and 101 and 121 at 8s 6d (42½p).

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Sinclair Radionics was producing handheld electronic calculators, miniature televisions, and the digital Black Watch wristwatch. The latter product, introduced in 1975, was a significant failure for Sinclair: in addition to being unable to meet demand, the watch itself was found to be inaccurate and difficult to service, and its battery life was too short. Sinclair Radionics suffered its first financial loss in 1975–1976, and Sinclair sought potential investors to help recover the lost funds. He eventually worked with the National Enterprise Board (NEB), which bought a 43% interest in the company in 1976, but this injection of funds was found to be too late as by this point, other companies were starting to make similar products at lower costs on the market. The NEB streamlined Sinclair Radionics' product line, selling off the watch and television lines, and brought in Norman Hewitt as a managing director to assist Sinclair. While Sinclair made efforts to work with Hewitt and the NEB, his relationship with these worsened, as the NEB had little faith in Sinclair's vision. By 1979, the NEB opted to break up Sinclair Radionics, holding its instruments division as Sinclair Electronics, and selling its television division to Binatone and its calculator division to ESL Bristol. Sinclair himself left the company at this point. Effectively NEB wrote off its estimated £7 million investment into Sinclair Radionics as a loss. Sinclair was given a golden handshake and an estimated £10,000 package with the dissolution of his company.

Sinclair Research

While Sinclair was dealing with the NEB and had seen problems developing, he had a former employee, Christopher Curry, establish a "lifeboat" company, called Science of Cambridge Ltd, in July 1977, called such as they were located near University of Cambridge, and planned for Curry to develop technology from ideas from the school. An early product from Science of Cambridge was a wrist calculator kit, which helped to keep the company financially afloat.

By the time that Sinclair had left Radionics and joined Curry at Science of Cambridge, inexpensive microprocessors had started appearing on the market. Sinclair came up with the idea of selling a microprocessor teaching kit, and in June 1978, Science of Cambridge launched the MK14 kit, based on the National SC/MP chip, in June 1978. As Sinclair began working on the MK14's successor, Curry was in discussions with Hermann Hauser, and opted to leave Science of Cambridge to co-found Acorn Computers with Hauser in 1978. Acorn became a direct competitor to Sinclair's products, with the Acorn System 75 as its answer to the MK14, effectively an MK14 chip with a keyboard.

To follow up on the MK14, Sinclair starting looking to build a personal computer. At around that time (1979), premade systems such as the Commodore PET cost about £700, and Sinclair believed he could get the price of a system to under £100. Keeping the cost low was also essential for Sinclair to avoid his products from becoming outpriced by American or Japanese equivalents as had happened to several of the Sinclair Radionics products. In May 1979, Jim Westwood, a former Sinclair Radionics employee Sinclair hired for this new company, started the ZX80 project at Science of Cambridge; it was launched in February 1980 at £79.95 in kit form and £99.95 ready-built. The ZX80 was immediately successful, and besides sales in the UK, Sinclair also sought to introduce the computer into the United States. Science of Cambridge was subsequently renamed Sinclair Computers Ltd, and then again to Sinclair Research Ltd.

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