Inventor and entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81

The inventor, entrepreneur and home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair has died aged 81 at his home in London following a long illness, his daughter Belinda Sinclair revealed today.

In 1980 he made his first home computer called the ZX80, which went on to transform the home computing market. In 1984, Sinclair launched the Sinclair QL computer, intended for professional users. Development of the ZX Spectrum continued with the enhanced ZX Spectrum 128 in 1985.

Despite his involvement in computing, Sinclair did not use the Internet, stating that he does not like to have “technical or mechanical things around me” as it distracts from the process of invention. In 2010, he stated that he did not use computers himself, and prefers using the telephone rather than email.

Belinda told the Guardian: ‘He was a rather amazing person. Of course, he was so clever and he was always interested in everything. My daughter and her husband are engineers so he’d be chatting engineering with them.’

She added: ‘It was the ideas, the challenge, that he found exciting. He’d come up with an idea and say, ”there’s no point in asking if someone wants it, because they can’t imagine it”.’