He died at his home in London a decade after
being diagnosed with cancer, U.K. media said, prompting tributes from many who
fondly recalled their first experience of computing in the early 1980s.
He was still working on inventions last week
"because that was what he loved doing," his daughter Belinda Sinclair
told the BBC. "He was inventive and imaginative, and for him, it was
exciting and an adventure. It was his passion."
Sinclair's groundbreaking products included
the first portable electronic calculator in 1972.
The Sinclair ZX80, which was launched in 1980
and sold for less than £100 at the time, brought home computing to the masses
in Britain and beyond.
Other early home computers such as the Apple
II cost far more, and Sinclair's company was the first in the world to sell
more than a million machines.
Follow-up models included the ZX Spectrum in
1982, which boasted superior power and a more user-friendly interface,
turbocharging the revolution in gaming and programming at home.
British movie director Edgar Wright, whose
latest film, Last Night in Soho, premiered in Venice this month, paid tribute
to Sinclair on Twitter.
"For someone whose first glimpses of a
brave new world were the terrifying graphics of 3D Monster Maze on the ZX81,
I'd like to salute tech pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair," he said. "He
made 21st century dreams feel possible. Will bash away on the rubber keys of a
Spectrum in your honour. RIP."
Tom Watson, former deputy leader of Britain's
opposition Labor Party, tweeted: "This man changed the course of my life.
"And arguably, the digital age for us in
the UK started with the Sinclair ZX80, when thousands of kids learnt to code
using 1k of RAM. For us, the Spectrum was like a Rolls-Royce with 48k."
However, not all of Sinclair's inventions were
a runaway success.
The Sinclair C5, a battery-powered tricycle
touted as the future of eco-friendly transport, became an expensive flop after
it was launched in 1985.
But in retrospect, it was ahead of its time,
given today's attention on climate change and the vogue for electric vehicles.
"You cannot exaggerate Sir Clive
Sinclair's influence on the world," gaming journalist and presenter
Dominik Diamond tweeted. "And if we'd all stopped laughing long enough to
buy a C5, he'd probably have saved the environment."
Born in 1940, Sinclair left school at 17,
becoming a technical writer creating specialist manuals.
At 22, he formed his first company, making
mail-order radio kits, including what was then the world's smallest transistor
radio.
Other ventures included digital watches and an
early version of a flat-screen television.
He was knighted in 1983.
Ironically, in a 2013 interview with the BBC,
Sinclair revealed that he did not use computers.
"I don't like distraction," he
explained. "If I had a computer, I'd start thinking I could change this, I
could change that, and I don't want to. My wife very kindly looks after that
for me."
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