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[Cockles & Whelks]

Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81

Creator of the landmark ZX Spectrum and the less commercially successful C5 died after a long illness

www.theguardian.com

https://twitter.com/JazRignall?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

What a British legend.

I have many fond memories of the 80's tinkering with my ZX Spectrum. So do I imagine do most of the UK gaming industry.

Rest easy Sir Clive!

Essential viewing:

The ZX81 computer, famously manufactured in Dundee, turns 40 today

Sir Clive Sinclair kickstarted the British computing industry in the 1980s with his Sinclair range of computers and has gone down in history for creating the mass market home computer 40 years ago, famously manufactured at the Timex factory in Dundee.

www.scotsman.com

The legend lives on!

Software Directory – ZX SPECTRUM NEXT

www.specnext.com

Even Legends have a misstep!




It's every UK GAFfer's duty to watch Bandersnatch on Netflix this evening, which is an interactive love letter from Charlie Brooker to the 80's Spectrum dominance era.

Watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch | Netflix Official Site

In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a dark fantasy novel into a video game. A mind-bending tale with multiple endings.

www.netflix.com

And never forget his legendary taste in women.

Latest Celebrity News, Gossip & Photos | TV & Showbiz | Daily Mail Online

Discover UK showbiz and celebrity breaking news from the MailOnline. Never miss out on gossip, celebrity photos, videos, divorces, scandals and more.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Matt_Fox]

Very sad to hear this, he was a visionary and a big part of 80s tech.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Rest in peace

 

[SidViscous]

My career started with the ZX, thank you Sir Clive and rest in peace.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Just heard about this.
A great shame.
RIP Sir Clive.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Thanks for reminding me about Micro Men.
Bloody superb. I watched it when it first aired and then promptly watched it again.

 

[Cockles & Whelks]

Thanks for reminding me about Micro Men.
Bloody superb. I watched it when it first aired and then promptly watched it again.

Likewise I keep hoping someone will make a book from On the Edge the C64 behind the scenes book to counter the boring mainstream narrative that the only company that was around in the 80s was Apple.

 

[Aldynes]

For those nostalgic of that era and others who wants to broaden their video game knowledge I highly recommend this video, the first part is about Sir Clive, truly a Legend.

 

[AJUMP23]

Cool history, left an impact.

 

[FunkMiller]

Incredibly sad. The man was a genius. My earliest gaming memories were on the ZX Spectrum. He was way ahead of his time, and deserved many more plaudits than he got. The European tech industry owes him a debt of gratitude for many reasons.

Proper good bloke. RIP.

 

[Cockles & Whelks]

It re

Incredibly sad. The man was a genius. My earliest gaming memories were on the ZX Spectrum. He was way ahead of his time, and deserved many more plaudits than he got. The European tech industry owes him a debt of gratitude for many reasons.

Proper good bloke. RIP.

It really hit home. So many memories of the 80s have a corresponding ZX Spectrum memory. I can remember playing Codename Matt 2 on the wonderful summer where I first fell in love with a girl from an Estate down the road.

Quick shower the Bandersnatch and Micromen B2B.

 

[MrS]

Rest in power king

 

[nush]

Thanks for the early gaming memories Sir Clive. RIP.

 

[FunkMiller]

It re


It really hit home. So many memories of the 80s have a corresponding ZX Spectrum memory. I can remember playing Codename Matt 2 on the wonderful summer where I first fell in love with a girl from an Estate down the road.

Quick shower the Bandersnatch and Micromen B2B.

As you can probably tell from my name and avatar, I’m a huge Batman fan, and one of my formative memories, alongside the tv show, was playing Ocean’s Batman game on my Speccy. I adored it. And I loved that silly little box too. Never had such an emotional attachment to a gaming machine again - with maybe the exception of the Ps1l for very different reasons.



*sniff*

Rest in peace, you mad, magnificent ginger genius.

 

[gradient]

Shit.

My first gaming system was a ZX Spectrum. He made computers affordable to a lot of families who would otherwise never have been able to give them a go.

Legend.

 

[dDoc]

Spectrum was my very first PC. RIP.

 

[SirTerry-T]

I don't think there's many of us here in the UK and Europe who wouldn't credit Sir Clive and that humble little box of silicon for our involvement in the hobby. I certainly wouldn't be doing the job I was doing now if I hadn't waited patiently for my ZX Spectrum to arrive from Boots back in 1984. Attribute clash be damned! I loved creating art on that machine.

 

[SirTerry-T]

Perhaps not the most flattering portrayal of "Uncle" Clive but a great insight into what he achieved in the early days of the home computer boom, up against the big boys...


Edit-my mistake, didn't notice this had already been posted by Cockles & Whelks !
Watch it again, anyway

 

[Stefan.North]

Great man and inventor.

Rest in Peace

 

[Cockles & Whelks]

Perhaps not the most flattering portrayal of "Uncle" Clive but a great insight into what he achieved in the early days of the home computer boom, up against the big boys...


Edit-my mistake, didn't notice this had already been posted by Cockles & Whelks !
Watch it again, anyway

One of best docu-dramas ever!

 

[strange headache]

Another great hardware pioneer joins the great gig in the sky.

May his C5 never run out of batteries.
RIP

 

[Sephimoth]

RIP. I was way late to the party but loved my Spectrum as a kid

 

[kyussman]

Bit of legend,RIP.....for full disclosure,I was a C64 kid though.
They should bring back the C5...they would certainly be better than those silly fucking e-scooters.

 

[winjer]

RIP
You have helped to make a better world.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

RIP to a pioneer.

 

[ripeavocado]

RIP.

A great man.

 

[cyberheater]

Brought computers to the masses. RIP.

 

[LimanimaPT]

Zx Spectrum was very popular in Portugal. My programming passion started with basic on a Spectrum making simple games. What a simple and great machine that was.
I have good memories of waiting 10 minutes for a game to load and having it to crash at the last moment.
It's not by chance that I have Chuckie Egg as my avatar...

 

[SaucyJack]

My first computer was the ZX80 with 1k of RAM which I’d bought in kit form and had to assemble. The first personal computer under £100 IIRC.

Sir Clive was a great inventor and terrible businessman. I met him at a Mensa event years back, it was a delightfully strange conversation.

RIP

 

[Clear]

For those nostalgic of that era and others who wants to broaden their video game knowledge I highly recommend this video, the first part is about Sir Clive, truly a Legend.

Not to hijack this thread, but damn... the star feature of that video for me is the middle section about Joffa Smith. A truly lovely, talented guy who sadly passed years before his time...

So many familiar faces in that video, it really took me back. But then again my first job in the industry was at Special FX in '87 or '88! Its a long time ago.

Its crazy to me how much its all changed since then.

The truly great thing about the whole 8-bit micro era was how it opened doors of possibility for working class kids to become creatives. I guess its impossible to comprehend if you've grown up with the internet to imagine how the world was before it, especially a time when in the UK we had only had 4 TV channels to choose from! Opportunities to make something and share it with other people were thin on the ground to say the least.

And for really kickstarting it all off, making home computing genuinely affordable for everyone, thankyou Sir Clive.
Every one of us that came after, owes you.

 

[theclaw135]

Likewise I keep hoping someone will make a book from On the Edge the C64 behind the scenes book to counter the boring mainstream narrative that the only company that was around in the 80s was Apple.

The cool kids were on C64. Apple was too educational.

Mind you, Sinclair tragically flopped across the pond...

 

[Boaty McBoatface]

Essential viewing:

omg 1 minute in please tell me that was intentional

 

[captainraincoat]

That system was a very UK centric ...here in Aus you had to import them at stupid rates so they were as rare as hens teeth
but when i did get to play with one it was very much a cross between a C64 and a Spectrum

RIP

 

[Bullet Club]

RIP Sir Clive

Good on him for helping to get cheap computers out to the masses.

 

[farmerboy]

As you can probably tell from my name and avatar, I’m a huge Batman fan, and one of my formative memories, alongside the tv show, was playing Ocean’s Batman game on my Speccy. I adored it. And I loved that silly little box too. Never had such an emotional attachment to a gaming machine again - with maybe the exception of the Ps1l for very different reasons.



*sniff*

Rest in peace, you mad, magnificent ginger genius.

Played this on the Amstrad. First game I ever "finished". Amazing times.

 

[Mars2003]

Had a ZX81 for christmas way back, it started smoking when switched on so I got a Speccy 16k instead (later upgraded with a 32k ram pack). Good times!

 

[UnNamed]

I feel old.