A tribute to Sir Clive Sinclair - 1940 to 2021. The man behind so many innovations including the pocket calculator, pocket TV and of course the ZX Spectrum.
First there was Jack Tramiel, the author of the Commodore 64. And now, it's Sir Clive Sinclair, the author of the Sinclair ZX81 Spectrum. 😿 Rest in peace - retrospective style. 🕹️
I remember the feeling of mashing the membrane keyboard on the ZX81 and making things happen on the TV. That was nothing short of magic, what a time to be alive! RIP Sir Clive.
A very nice tribute, thank you. Clive Sinclair had a significant effect on my life. It was because of His ZX Spectrum that I became a software engineer and spent 30 enjoyable and profitable years in the it industry. Like all of us he had his faults, but he was a true visionary and an extremely talented man. Rest in peace Clive, and thanks for the best Christmas present I ever had.
I think Sir Clive’s greatest achievement isn’t the creation of one single successful product but in instigating the home computing industry and inspiring a whole generation of bedroom coders alongside Acorn, Commodore and, though it pains me to admit it, Amstrad. As for electric vehicles, he was just way too early, in a world still obsessed with oil and choking fumes.
Next year I celebrate 40 years as a technical expert in the telecoms/IT/cyber-security industry without ever having been without a job in that time. I'm a Linux guy now but back in 1982, I did a HNC at technical college with BT and learnt how to do machine code programming on the Z80. I bought a Spectrum as my first computer, the rest is history. Thank you, Sir Clive, for being a major reason that I am here now, Rest In Peace.
What a lovely tribute. The ZX81 was my first computer, spent hours on a flight sim game, was mind blowing back then. And we had 1k Chess (thats 1024 chars of memory) and still couldn’t beat it. Really really bugs me the amount of amazing inventions he created and yet every news story showed a pic of him with his ill fated C5, what a shame when he did so much for the World. Thanks for the video. May he rest in peace, a true genius.
That 1K Chess game is a legend in and of itself. Over the years it has been refined and optimised so much that there´s now a version available that occupies only around 400 bytes
Great episode. I was 13 when the Spectrum came out, at 15 the careers officer at school knew nothing about computers and his advice was to work in a bank. I was the first year to take O Level computing at our school in 1985 and then on the first local college IT course (BTec OND). I now run at IT Consultancy, and program assembly on the Speccy as a hobby, but owe my whole working career to the timely vision of Clive Sinclair.
I inherited a 48k ZX Spectrum from my Grandpa in 1983 when I was 4 years old. It took me a couple of years until my parent were comfortable to let me have a go on it as I was so young. I marvelled at what could be done when using the included BASIC manual and never looked back. That oringal 48K unit has died many times over the years but I've always repaired it as it was an important part of my upbringing. It's still used to this very day! RIP Clive, thanks for all the good times..
Pioneer and forward thinker. You don't see many of these guys every day. The C5 was slow in the 1980s, but extrapolated over time, using Moore's Law, today it would be a race car.
I had a ZX Spectrum +, and by far the most games software I bought for any system platform. It had a vast variety games library and many classic games titles. Sir Clive Sinclair was well ahead of his time, in his future sightedness. He just never really had the financial clout to make what he wanted without compromises. For a generation he was The Man who could. And made computing and computers an affordable household item. And his legacy still lives on. Salute to you, Sir Clive Sinclair.
A lovely tribute, Paul. Very well done. I likely owe my career path and several close friends to the Spectrum. It's amazing to think that 39 years later I still have at least one of my Spectrums permanently set up and still used on a weekly basis.
The first computer at school I used was a ZX 81. I had a 48K and then a 128K Toast rack. I would spend many hours on Elite 128K. Come home from work and play all night some times. Now I am looing forward to getting my ZX Spectrum Next issue 2 (no Chips). He was a visionary and will be missed by all. RIP Sir Clive.
Thousands of kids of the 80s like myself interested in playing arcades and home video com puter games the ZX Spectrum 48 and others was like a gift from the gods as in Sir uncle Clive Sinclair. The speccy was cheap and accessable and the most supported format in britain. The beloved Spectrum has its place in history and rightly so and so does Sir uncle Clive Sinclair the man who brought us "Jet set fucking willy". My writing skills are not the best by the way. God bless you Sir Uncle Clive Sinclair.
I was surprised when I went into school on the Friday after and didn't hear a single other student or teacher mention it, and also that I haven't been overrun with recommendations for tributes to him online.
R.I.P. Sir Uncle Clive. He was my hero. I first became aware of him in the 70's, (I must have been about 6 or 7), from adverts in old copies of Practical Wireless magazine that my dad had. We got an 81 in 82, and a 48K Speccy in 84. I now have 3 ZX81's, (one is a clone with SD card that fits in the original case), and 7 ZX Spectrum's, (two are clones with SD cards one in a rubber key case and one in a +2 grey case). I was playing Galaxians on the 81 a few weeks ago, It's still an addictive game. Great tribute to a great innovator, Paul. Thank you.
Thanks for this. I am 47. I remember seeing the flat screen tv in shops like Dixon’s. I definitely used a zx80 and zx80. I never saw the watch or calculator. As for the speccy, it’s still the most influential machine In my life. Keep up the good work.
A great man - he inspired me in the early 80's, so much so that I did a degree in computer science and have worked for more than 20 years in an industry that I love. Sadly missed RIP Sir Clive.
I can remember follow the the program book/instructions for the ZX80 and programming the the hit any key “OUCH” and was hooked from there but did think 3D Monster maze was all that. But the spectrum was a massive part of my life.
Fantastic tribute video, thanks. It’s because of Sir Clive that I have had a long and rewarding career in IT, my first machine was a ZX81 and although I never got it to work properly it fed the fire for my passion for computers and I then upgraded to a ZX Spectrum 48K+ which I didn’t have for long and then a ZX Spectrum +3. I am typing this on my iPad (which we have thanks to Sir Clive’s Z88) using a Recreated ZX Spectrum keyboard whilst loading “A Day In The Life” on my +2, hearing those glorious tape loading sounds at 1400 baud is soothing to my ears as I reminisce on those many happy and carefree days waiting patiently and in eager anticipation for my programs to load. He gave us the pocket radio, pocket calculators, pocket televisions, digital watches, affordable home computers, notepad computers and electric vehicles, yes the C5 was a commercial failure but his genius and creativity has been emulated all around the world which is now turning towards electric cars. Sir Clive was simply ahead of his time. Rest in peace Sir Clive and thank you, you gave me my future, you gave us all the future. Sir Clive Sinclair 1940 - 2021. RIP
I was really saddened to hear dear Sir Clive has passed on. Such an inventive man and driving force of the micro era. Rest in peace, you will be fondly remembered despite many R Tape loading errors.
I stopped the music I was playing when I saw a notification flash on my tablet that looked like it was talking about his death as it had a picture of him younger as the cover. My heart sank as I realised what it must be and then a few seconds later I managed to get it open to see the title for confirmation and then I cried for 5 minutes.
What a man! Like so many people here - yes - he also inspired my direction in life. The ZX81 offered plenty of creative challenges and exploration opportunities that made the 1980's a fun adventure for a small kid. The Speccy took that drive to keep learning about computers even further a couple of years later... That whole era has so many, many fond childhood memories for me (and I am sure many others). So - Thank you, Sir Clive. I really do feel where I am in life and career now has been thanks to the day I got that ZX81, and the personal journey it took me on.
@@OtterlyInsane The PC-200/PC-20 probably shares most, if not all, of the circuitry with the PPC, only the circuit boards are different. After a bit of googling, it turns out that the PC-200/PC-20 were indeed based on the PPC, with the LCD screen replaced by a modulator for connection to a domestic TV. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPC_512
A lovely tribute thank you Paul, And thank you Sir Clive. So many happy memories. From reading magazines, going into town to buy the games and taking turns around a friends house, there might have been even some “sharing”of games. Hours of fun on the spectrum. Thank you for making this wondrous little machine that almost everybody could afford.
As much as the C5 was seen as an electric car, I always saw it as an electric trike and, given the boom with e-bikes today, just shows how forward thinking SCS was!
I still don't get why people love to call the C5 a car, often the same people who insist Reliant 3 wheelers don't count as cars somehow. Technically I suppose the C5 is a car because it is enclosed?
@@bangerbangerbro No, the C5 is not enclosed, but the Reliant is. Which is even more confusing to the argument. Ha ha. I saw a C5 in a pub car park about 6 years ago. The owner just wanted to take it for a drive on a sunny day. We don't get many sunny days in England. LOL
@@frankowalker4662 Hahaha. Well now we do to be honest. Today for example. The C5 is enclosed. Cars without rooves and doors are still considered enclosed.
@@bangerbangerbro The C5 Did't have doors either. LOL There was a plastic mack you could get, made out of a tarporlin, that fit over the C5 body, but your head was poking through the top. It looked hillarious.
What a lot of people do not realise is that the birth of anything important, is always full of pain, struggle, love, passion and tragedy. People like Sir Clive Sinclair were at the forefront of birthing the British computer industry, and as such went through all the pain and struggle to bring it to the population. Those that followed in Clive's footsteps had a much easier time, once that industry and all the hard work had been done by people like Clive. His achievements must be acknowledged and honoured, because we all owe him a great debt of gratitude. Those that mock or belittle his achievements are usually not intelligent courageous visionaries themselves, and have nothing on that scale to put forth for scrutiny.
Thank you for many fun hours and days Sir Clive. RIP. I had the pleasure of owning and building some of your products, - Sinclair Micromatic pocket radio kit (1967 - 1971) - Sinclair "Black Watch" watch kit (1975) - Sinclair Cambridge type 3, self-build calculator kit (1975) - Sinclair ZX81 kit (1981) My dream computer in 1984 was the Sinclair QL (Quantum Leap), but unfortunately, I could never afford to buy one.
Thank you Paul, and Geoff. It was Sir Clive's 'can do' spirit that has inspired me for most of my life. Doesn't matter if what I try isn't great as long as I learn and my next attempt is better. RIP Sir Clive Sinclair.
ZX81 was my first ever computer and set me on the way. I had the portable TV in about 86 at work. Problem was I worked in a basement and could barely get a signal. Loved it though. RIP Sir Clive.
My very first home computer was a ZX Spectrum 48k which was brought for me as an early Christmas gift, it came with the horizon cassette and a mono cassette recorder, unfortunately, the head on the tape recorder was out of alignment and it took me about 3 days off and on to finally get the head aligned but then I got Ghostbusters and Underworld brought for me by a relative and had to spend another day finding the sweet spot of the tape head where both the games and the horizon tape would load. Good old days, I do remember getting constantly moaned at by my parents because of the noise the spectrum made when loading from the cassette and they never did believe me when I told them I couldn't turn it off, they used to say "turn the sound down on the tv that bloody noise is doing my head in" lol. I don't have that Spectrum anymore as it stopped working long ago so I gave the whole lot away which I now regret doing because thanks to scalpers retro home computer stuff is way too expensive for my budget. Thanks for giving me such great memories Sir Clive.
The Spectrum changed the course of my life, and serendipitously I eventually spent 5 years working with the Sinclair Research legend Jim Westwood. Sir Clive was a one-off.
I saw it on Thursday at about 10pm GMT, articles put up at around 7pm. Turned on BBC news and saw his death announced too though only briefly. There was probably more in the next few days but I don't tune in. I should have. I have hear a lot less about it than I expected to to be honest but that may just be that I don't use TH-cam as much as I used to.
Years back I worked for a cycle retailer who had received an A-Bike on spec with an aim for stocking them. I had cause to borrow it one evening, and yes it was a bit of a pig to ride. Riding over anything but smooth tarmac shook your entire body, and the tiny wheels made balance even in motion quite tricky. However, it was INCREDIBLY light and folded down very well. It was just a shame that - just like the C5 - the A-Bike made me feel vunerable to use on the road. It would have been perfect had low traffic areas been around when it was released. So yeah, like many of Clive's ideas it was a brilliant solution to imperfect parameters, and often ones which would be resolved when it was a bit too late. But I reckon that's why we all loved and respected him; he was basically the British geek's John DeLorean. Someone who created imaginitive yet flawed stuff, whose importance was only really appreciated in hindsight. Sleep well, Uncle Clive, from one of your career nerds.
Was I the only kid who DID actually write a short Speccy program to help check my homework? 😂 Was never confident in my calculus graphs without a rough visual verification. I fkn LOVED "playing" with BASIC 🤩😍
Clive would've loved you, I'm sure! I modified a barchart program several years ago, but it's not really the same thing as actually WRITING a new program from scratch. Even just in BASIC. Do you still have the program listing? It would be nice to see some of what Sir Clive seemed to want from the Spectrum's user base.
@@letsdiscussitoversometea8479 I don't even remember now what was involved in the calculus, let alone recall how I implemented it on the Speccy 😂 An equation was "factorised", turning-points were calculated and a sketch of a curve was graphed (?) I never got my head around how the result related to the question, or what I was trying to achieve with the calculations. Blew it in the final exams 😬 Still occasionally play with BASIC on Spectrum emulators. My old Speccy went with my ex. back in '96 😭. I'd pay a lot of money to get it back, but really couldn't be bothered getting back in touch 🤣
A nice tribute. As an arcade-obsessed kid I got a 1K ZX81 in 1982 and was very disappointed. I then got a Speccy for Xmas 1983 and everything changed. I have such warm memories of playing those early games. I even managed to write a couple of my own crappy games. I got an Atari ST in 1987 but the Speccy was still used and is to this day. In 1996 I got my first ZX emulation CD packed full of hundreds of games. That blew me away. Imagine if I'd had that back in the day! It's funny but that first CD holds nostalgia itself now. Very postmodern. RIP Sir Clive.
Thanks for this. Like many people, I have a huge collection of retro games and consoles, the pride of the lot being my original, boxed, 48k Spectrum which I got for Christmas in 1983. It has a whole area for itself in my retro room, complete with many many games and my original collection of Crash/SU/YS magazines. SIr Clive was a huge influence on many of us who grew up in the 70's/80's and I can only thank him for the huge amount of joy he gave me as a 12 year old boy in 1983, and the following years. R.I.P. Sir Clive.
Yes, my ZX Spectrum was there to help with my homework, well the opposite was probably true but my parents were convinced, well maybe not. The legacy continues especially now the support for the Spectrum is current and ongoing. Thanks for taking the time to produce this. Yes, Geoff's comment regarding life before/ after, with/without computers, completely true for me. Respects.
I'm one of those programmers from the Spectrum generation. My parents gave me the money to buy one and in hindsight that was the best money they ever spent on me.
That must have been a difficult video to produce. I must add - the Z88 would have been a worthy inclusion to the list of innovations. Extraordinary product on reflection. Paul's absolutely spot on ; changed the course of the country.
Thanks for this! Hes definetly underrated in modern times. While he had a lot of misses he laid the foundations for others to improve on and bring products to market. As for the spectrum i still think computers today would have been very different and bred a generation of programmers.
Thanks for posting this Paul. The ZX Spectrum 48k was my first computer. I had a cricket game I loved playing on it but it wasn't true to life so I updated/rewrote the Basic code for it. 45 years later and I'm still creating/rewriting code. All thinks to Sir Clive's ZX Spectrum.
Really surprised how down the news made me feel, as if a favourite Uncle had passed away. Such a legendary figure to whom I am so grateful. Great tribute Paul, was wondering if you'd post something, so glad you did.
The Spec was the first usable computer that I could afford. At the shop, they tried to sell me a far less capable Atom, but I insisted. I learned a LOT on that tiny machine. Z80 assembly, Forth. Given that the next stage would have been around 1987, I would have missed half a decade of experience. So, Sir Sinclair. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. My (professional) life wouldn't have been the same without you.
The first computer I ever used was a ZX81 at school, when I was about 11. Was proud to code (although we called it program in those days) a black square on screen in BASIC. My best friend Leigh got a ZX Spectrum a year later. Wow it had colour, so I had to have one! I got a 48k Spectrum in Christmas 1983 (I think), along with games of the era - Hungry Horace and Jet Set Willy and several others. A couple of years later Elite came out. I lost so many hours on that game. It dominated my late childhood. Yes, there was a lot of game swapping going on in the playground. Leigh had a bit of a “business” going, selling copies for 20p or so each. In Christmas 1987, I got a Spectrum +2. Tried my hand (unsuccessfully) at games programming. RIP Sir Clive. Thanks for the memories!
Never actually had a Sinclair machine, started with the Vic20, then the BBC B, Atari STFM, then back to Commodore with the Amiga 500 and 1500. But would like to take my hat off to one of the early Pioneers of British computing, R.I.P. Clive, a character of your time.
Lovely tribute :o) have to say though the pc200 was an amstrad machine not a sinclair one. I worked for amstrad at the time and we showcased it at one of the pc shows at earls court
Here in Russia we almost never had any 'real' Spectrums or other Sinclair stuff, but we sure cloned Spectrums a lot, all with their own weird and wonderful quirks and improvements (or sometimes faults , lol). It lasted way longer here it feels, with commercial, factory-made clones being made all the way 'till the mid 90's in some places. Software was mostly bootlegged (of course), sometimes adapted for TR-DOS floppy disk system; some clones also ran CP/M. A lot of impressive coding went into demos, which are still fun to watch every once in a while. Probably my first ever experience of a computer was Pentagon 48k made by my dad. RIP Sir Clive.
Hi Paul, Thanks for this video much appreciated. As text is limited I wanted to put an idea out there. A lot of us will understand the impact this man had on us as individuals, not to mention the country and computing industry. Whilst we are taking statues down across this land, is there not a case to have one put up of Sir Clive Sinclair. This man should be remembered
5:47 Frogger is particuarly notable, the ZX81 version was a very early example of a licenced conversion. 14:23 Thro The Wall. Hilariously, it was a colorised version of a game that Psion had sold commericially on the ZX81, and here was an improved version for free on the Horizons tape.
Thanks for this excellent tribute! You can trace back my entire career to a purchase in 1982 of a £50 ZX81. Too poor to afford a Spectrum (and I probably couldn't have got hold of one anyway due to the supply issues). i was a 17 year old school kid, and it was magical. I eventually got the Memopak 16k which was a much better designed ram pack and didn't wobble - it had velcro(!). I never had a Spectrum back then (too poor as I said) but i used to badger my more well-off friends and go around their houses to play on theirs, and to wow them with my BASIC programming skills. Later i jumped ship to the Commodore 64, and from there my career truly took off, but the ZX81 started it all (with a bit of school experience with Nascom's, RML 380Z's and BBC Micros to help round it out as well). The thing is many people (especially US commentators) dismiss the ZX machines as shoddy, and primitive compared to the US machines that were available at the time. However those machines were unaffordable to the vast majority of the ordinary British public. The ZX81 at £50 in 1982 was equivalent to nearly £200 today, which was vastly cheaper than the US computers and the BBC micro which retailed for many hundreds of pounds back then - thousands of pounds in today's money. Sinclair, and later Commodore when the C64 price dropped, kick-started an entire UK development industry, and there are huge numbers of people like me who are still working in computer development decades later. This is an amazing legacy for Sir Clive, and it's a shame it's not more widely recognised.
i had a go on a zike at an earls court bike expo in 1992. it was good fun to ride (unfortunately didn't see sir clive though). although i am a child of the c64 i can see what the spectrum did for making home computing affordable for people and what a gamechanger it was forever afterwards (both for home computing and games). rip sir clive.
My brother bought his first computer - ZX Spectrum for SGD700 through his UK colleague. I was so excited when we opened the box and hooked it up to a Sony Trinitron TV. I played Hungry Horace and Ant Attacks. The latter 3D is awesome @ that time th-cam.com/video/Va5SKaYL3r8/w-d-xo.html Thanks, Sir Clive Sinclair. RIP. You are indeed a visionary. You created a computer before the BBC micro. Your electric vehicle - C5 is way ahead of the future.
And that is why I'm sitting in front of a home built 16 core CPU 4.2 Ghz, 64Gb RAM 6 Terabyte PC! I owe my computer knowledge to Sinclair. I had a ZX81, a Spectrum which I upgraded to 48K! My first in-roads into upgrading computers. From then onto an Acorn Electron, BBC B, BBC Master, Archimedes then finally to PC's. I've seen and done a lot!
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The world has lost another truly great man. RIP Sir Clive.
First there was Jack Tramiel, the author of the Commodore 64. And now, it's Sir Clive Sinclair, the author of the Sinclair ZX81 Spectrum. 😿
Rest in peace - retrospective style. 🕹️
I remember the feeling of mashing the membrane keyboard on the ZX81 and making things happen on the TV. That was nothing short of magic, what a time to be alive! RIP Sir Clive.
A very nice tribute, thank you.
Clive Sinclair had a significant effect on my life. It was because of His ZX Spectrum that I became a software engineer and spent 30 enjoyable and profitable years in the it industry.
Like all of us he had his faults, but he was a true visionary and an extremely talented man.
Rest in peace Clive, and thanks for the best Christmas present I ever had.
It is impossible to imagine a world without the ZX81 and Spectrum ever existing. Thank you Sir Clive for these truly wonderful gifts to our lives.
I think Sir Clive’s greatest achievement isn’t the creation of one single successful product but in instigating the home computing industry and inspiring a whole generation of bedroom coders alongside Acorn, Commodore and, though it pains me to admit it, Amstrad. As for electric vehicles, he was just way too early, in a world still obsessed with oil and choking fumes.
Next year I celebrate 40 years as a technical expert in the telecoms/IT/cyber-security industry without ever having been without a job in that time. I'm a Linux guy now but back in 1982, I did a HNC at technical college with BT and learnt how to do machine code programming on the Z80. I bought a Spectrum as my first computer, the rest is history.
Thank you, Sir Clive, for being a major reason that I am here now, Rest In Peace.
What a lovely tribute. The ZX81 was my first computer, spent hours on a flight sim game, was mind blowing back then. And we had 1k Chess (thats 1024 chars of memory) and still couldn’t beat it. Really really bugs me the amount of amazing inventions he created and yet every news story showed a pic of him with his ill fated C5, what a shame when he did so much for the World. Thanks for the video. May he rest in peace, a true genius.
That 1K Chess game is a legend in and of itself. Over the years it has been refined and optimised so much that there´s now a version available that occupies only around 400 bytes
RIP Sir Clive, thanks for bring the spectrum to the world
Great episode. I was 13 when the Spectrum came out, at 15 the careers officer at school knew nothing about computers and his advice was to work in a bank. I was the first year to take O Level computing at our school in 1985 and then on the first local college IT course (BTec OND). I now run at IT Consultancy, and program assembly on the Speccy as a hobby, but owe my whole working career to the timely vision of Clive Sinclair.
For all his reported flaws and faults (he was human after all!), Sir Clive Sinclair was a great man and a visionary, RIP
Rest in Peace Sir Clive. Thank you for making my childhood so much happier and instructive. I'm still in my childhood today.
I inherited a 48k ZX Spectrum from my Grandpa in 1983 when I was 4 years old. It took me a couple of years until my parent were comfortable to let me have a go on it as I was so young. I marvelled at what could be done when using the included BASIC manual and never looked back.
That oringal 48K unit has died many times over the years but I've always repaired it as it was an important part of my upbringing.
It's still used to this very day!
RIP Clive, thanks for all the good times..
I never get when people use the term "died" because it implies that it is permanently inoperable. Just say "it's broken".
@@bangerbangerbro No
Pioneer and forward thinker. You don't see many of these guys every day. The C5 was slow in the 1980s, but extrapolated over time, using Moore's Law, today it would be a race car.
False. Moore's Law applies to transistors in an integrated circuit , nothing to do with battery powered motors.
I had a ZX Spectrum +, and by far the most games software I bought for any system platform. It had a vast variety games library and many classic games titles. Sir Clive Sinclair was well ahead of his time, in his future sightedness. He just never really had the financial clout to make what he wanted without compromises. For a generation he was The Man who could. And made computing and computers an affordable household item. And his legacy still lives on. Salute to you, Sir Clive Sinclair.
A lovely tribute, Paul. Very well done.
I likely owe my career path and several close friends to the Spectrum. It's amazing to think that 39 years later I still have at least one of my Spectrums permanently set up and still used on a weekly basis.
Welcome to my world. Zx spectrum 48k+
The first computer at school I used was a ZX 81. I had a 48K and then a 128K Toast rack. I would spend many hours on Elite 128K. Come home from work and play all night some times. Now I am looing forward to getting my ZX Spectrum Next issue 2 (no Chips). He was a visionary and will be missed by all. RIP Sir Clive.
Another giant loss to the world. RIP Sir Clive, thanls for changing my life
Thousands of kids of the 80s like myself interested in playing arcades and home video com puter games the ZX Spectrum 48 and others was like a gift from the gods as in Sir uncle Clive Sinclair. The speccy was cheap and accessable and the most supported format in britain. The beloved Spectrum has its place in history and rightly so and so does Sir uncle Clive Sinclair the man who brought us "Jet set fucking willy". My writing skills are not the best by the way. God bless you Sir Uncle Clive Sinclair.
Nicely done Paul. Sir Clive was a giant amongst men and inspiration to many of us who grew up in Thatcher's Britain.
Yep, the whole U.K should be playing "A Day in The Life" as a tribute over this weekend!
I was surprised when I went into school on the Friday after and didn't hear a single other student or teacher mention it, and also that I haven't been overrun with recommendations for tributes to him online.
Lovely tribute! He had a huge impact on my childhood (and career).
R.I.P. Sir Uncle Clive. He was my hero. I first became aware of him in the 70's, (I must have been about 6 or 7), from adverts in old copies of Practical Wireless magazine that my dad had. We got an 81 in 82, and a 48K Speccy in 84. I now have 3 ZX81's, (one is a clone with SD card that fits in the original case), and 7 ZX Spectrum's, (two are clones with SD cards one in a rubber key case and one in a +2 grey case). I was playing Galaxians on the 81 a few weeks ago, It's still an addictive game.
Great tribute to a great innovator, Paul. Thank you.
Thanks for this.
I am 47. I remember seeing the flat screen tv in shops like Dixon’s. I definitely used a zx80 and zx80. I never saw the watch or calculator.
As for the speccy, it’s still the most influential machine In my life.
Keep up the good work.
I am 54.
Really good video. RIP Sir Clive.
A great man - he inspired me in the early 80's, so much so that I did a degree in computer science and have worked for more than 20 years in an industry that I love. Sadly missed RIP Sir Clive.
I can remember follow the the program book/instructions for the ZX80 and programming the the hit any key “OUCH” and was hooked from there but did think 3D Monster maze was all that. But the spectrum was a massive part of my life.
It’s really sad that there are no big tributes to this genius
Fantastic tribute video, thanks. It’s because of Sir Clive that I have had a long and rewarding career in IT, my first machine was a ZX81 and although I never got it to work properly it fed the fire for my passion for computers and I then upgraded to a ZX Spectrum 48K+ which I didn’t have for long and then a ZX Spectrum +3.
I am typing this on my iPad (which we have thanks to Sir Clive’s Z88) using a Recreated ZX Spectrum keyboard whilst loading “A Day In The Life” on my +2, hearing those glorious tape loading sounds at 1400 baud is soothing to my ears as I reminisce on those many happy and carefree days waiting patiently and in eager anticipation for my programs to load.
He gave us the pocket radio, pocket calculators, pocket televisions, digital watches, affordable home computers, notepad computers and electric vehicles, yes the C5 was a commercial failure but his genius and creativity has been emulated all around the world which is now turning towards electric cars. Sir Clive was simply ahead of his time.
Rest in peace Sir Clive and thank you, you gave me my future, you gave us all the future.
Sir Clive Sinclair
1940 - 2021. RIP
I can thank Sir Clive for my career as a programmer, and it is a good one. Thank you.
I was really saddened to hear dear Sir Clive has passed on. Such an inventive man and driving force of the micro era. Rest in peace, you will be fondly remembered despite many R Tape loading errors.
I stopped the music I was playing when I saw a notification flash on my tablet that looked like it was talking about his death as it had a picture of him younger as the cover. My heart sank as I realised what it must be and then a few seconds later I managed to get it open to see the title for confirmation and then I cried for 5 minutes.
Passed on implies there's a life after death. That would be insulting to a scientist like Clive. You could say he passed away though.
Vale Clive, as iconic as his creations and embodiment of British quirkiness. Cheers to a life well lived!
A lovely tribute to the man that changed the career of many, including myself.
A perfect tribute, Paul. Thank you so much for this.
Oh, the hours I "wasted" playing on my Speccy... RIP, Sir 😢
What a man! Like so many people here - yes - he also inspired my direction in life. The ZX81 offered plenty of creative challenges and exploration opportunities that made the 1980's a fun adventure for a small kid. The Speccy took that drive to keep learning about computers even further a couple of years later...
That whole era has so many, many fond childhood memories for me (and I am sure many others). So - Thank you, Sir Clive. I really do feel where I am in life and career now has been thanks to the day I got that ZX81, and the personal journey it took me on.
Well done Paul. RIP Sir Clive. Just to point out that "Sinclair" PC-200 was designed and sold by Amstrad.
It had an Amstrad twin in the PC20, I assume it's also closely related to the Amstrad PPC
@@OtterlyInsane The PC-200/PC-20 probably shares most, if not all, of the circuitry with the PPC, only the circuit boards are different.
After a bit of googling, it turns out that the PC-200/PC-20 were indeed based on the PPC, with the LCD screen replaced by a modulator for connection to a domestic TV. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPC_512
A lovely tribute thank you Paul, And thank you Sir Clive. So many happy memories. From reading magazines, going into town to buy the games and taking turns around a friends house, there might have been even some “sharing”of games. Hours of fun on the spectrum.
Thank you for making this wondrous little machine that almost everybody could afford.
As much as the C5 was seen as an electric car, I always saw it as an electric trike and, given the boom with e-bikes today, just shows how forward thinking SCS was!
He was ahead of his time, and no-one was willing to catch up.
I still don't get why people love to call the C5 a car, often the same people who insist Reliant 3 wheelers don't count as cars somehow. Technically I suppose the C5 is a car because it is enclosed?
@@bangerbangerbro No, the C5 is not enclosed, but the Reliant is. Which is even more confusing to the argument. Ha ha.
I saw a C5 in a pub car park about 6 years ago. The owner just wanted to take it for a drive on a sunny day. We don't get many sunny days in England. LOL
@@frankowalker4662 Hahaha. Well now we do to be honest. Today for example. The C5 is enclosed. Cars without rooves and doors are still considered enclosed.
@@bangerbangerbro The C5 Did't have doors either. LOL There was a plastic mack you could get, made out of a tarporlin, that fit over the C5 body, but your head was poking through the top. It looked hillarious.
What a lot of people do not realise is that the birth of anything important, is always full of pain, struggle, love, passion and tragedy. People like Sir Clive Sinclair were at the forefront of birthing the British computer industry, and as such went through all the pain and struggle to bring it to the population. Those that followed in Clive's footsteps had a much easier time, once that industry and all the hard work had been done by people like Clive. His achievements must be acknowledged and honoured, because we all owe him a great debt of gratitude. Those that mock or belittle his achievements are usually not intelligent courageous visionaries themselves, and have nothing on that scale to put forth for scrutiny.
Thank you for many fun hours and days Sir Clive. RIP. I had the pleasure of owning and building some of your products,
- Sinclair Micromatic pocket radio kit (1967 - 1971)
- Sinclair "Black Watch" watch kit (1975)
- Sinclair Cambridge type 3, self-build calculator kit (1975)
- Sinclair ZX81 kit (1981)
My dream computer in 1984 was the Sinclair QL (Quantum Leap), but unfortunately, I could never afford to buy one.
RIP Sir Clive. played a big part in my life
Well done very good tribute
Thank you Paul, and Geoff.
It was Sir Clive's 'can do' spirit that has inspired me for most of my life. Doesn't matter if what I try isn't great as long as I learn and my next attempt is better.
RIP Sir Clive Sinclair.
R.I.P thank you sir cive for endless nights with my mates on z X spectrum as a schoolboy in early 80s
ZX81 was my first ever computer and set me on the way. I had the portable TV in about 86 at work. Problem was I worked in a basement and could barely get a signal. Loved it though. RIP Sir Clive.
My very first home computer was a ZX Spectrum 48k which was brought for me as an early Christmas gift, it came with the horizon cassette and a mono cassette recorder, unfortunately, the head on the tape recorder was out of alignment and it took me about 3 days off and on to finally get the head aligned but then I got Ghostbusters and Underworld brought for me by a relative and had to spend another day finding the sweet spot of the tape head where both the games and the horizon tape would load.
Good old days, I do remember getting constantly moaned at by my parents because of the noise the spectrum made when loading from the cassette and they never did believe me when I told them I couldn't turn it off, they used to say "turn the sound down on the tv that bloody noise is doing my head in" lol.
I don't have that Spectrum anymore as it stopped working long ago so I gave the whole lot away which I now regret doing because thanks to scalpers retro home computer stuff is way too expensive for my budget.
Thanks for giving me such great memories Sir Clive.
I can relate to this 😂
Spectrums aren't that expensive are they? At least 48Ks. Though I do have scalpers.
The Spectrum changed the course of my life, and serendipitously I eventually spent 5 years working with the Sinclair Research legend Jim Westwood. Sir Clive was a one-off.
Big part of my childhood.
RIP, Dear Master of my dearest decade ever: the 80'S.
A true inventor with computers 1981 and truly gifted the late Sir Clive Sinclair.
A wonderful tribute
I didn't know of his passing, heard and came online. Did his passing receive much publicity? The man was a visionary. RIP Sir Clive Sinclair.
I saw it on Thursday at about 10pm GMT, articles put up at around 7pm. Turned on BBC news and saw his death announced too though only briefly. There was probably more in the next few days but I don't tune in. I should have. I have hear a lot less about it than I expected to to be honest but that may just be that I don't use TH-cam as much as I used to.
Years back I worked for a cycle retailer who had received an A-Bike on spec with an aim for stocking them. I had cause to borrow it one evening, and yes it was a bit of a pig to ride. Riding over anything but smooth tarmac shook your entire body, and the tiny wheels made balance even in motion quite tricky.
However, it was INCREDIBLY light and folded down very well. It was just a shame that - just like the C5 - the A-Bike made me feel vunerable to use on the road. It would have been perfect had low traffic areas been around when it was released.
So yeah, like many of Clive's ideas it was a brilliant solution to imperfect parameters, and often ones which would be resolved when it was a bit too late. But I reckon that's why we all loved and respected him; he was basically the British geek's John DeLorean. Someone who created imaginitive yet flawed stuff, whose importance was only really appreciated in hindsight.
Sleep well, Uncle Clive, from one of your career nerds.
Was I the only kid who DID actually write a short Speccy program to help check my homework? 😂
Was never confident in my calculus graphs without a rough visual verification.
I fkn LOVED "playing" with BASIC 🤩😍
Clive would've loved you, I'm sure!
I modified a barchart program several years ago, but it's not really the same thing as actually WRITING a new program from scratch.
Even just in BASIC.
Do you still have the program listing?
It would be nice to see some of what Sir Clive seemed to want from the Spectrum's user base.
@@letsdiscussitoversometea8479 I don't even remember now what was involved in the calculus, let alone recall how I implemented it on the Speccy 😂
An equation was "factorised", turning-points were calculated and a sketch of a curve was graphed (?)
I never got my head around how the result related to the question, or what I was trying to achieve with the calculations. Blew it in the final exams 😬
Still occasionally play with BASIC on Spectrum emulators.
My old Speccy went with my ex. back in '96 😭. I'd pay a lot of money to get it back, but really couldn't be bothered getting back in touch 🤣
A nice tribute. As an arcade-obsessed kid I got a 1K ZX81 in 1982 and was very disappointed. I then got a Speccy for Xmas 1983 and everything changed. I have such warm memories of playing those early games. I even managed to write a couple of my own crappy games. I got an Atari ST in 1987 but the Speccy was still used and is to this day. In 1996 I got my first ZX emulation CD packed full of hundreds of games. That blew me away. Imagine if I'd had that back in the day! It's funny but that first CD holds nostalgia itself now. Very postmodern. RIP Sir Clive.
Great video Paul, I agree, I grew up with Sinclair also! British finest Inventor!
British eccentricity at its cleverest. He was a genius!! RIP Clive Sinclair
Thanks for this. Like many people, I have a huge collection of retro games and consoles, the pride of the lot being my original, boxed, 48k Spectrum which I got for Christmas in 1983. It has a whole area for itself in my retro room, complete with many many games and my original collection of Crash/SU/YS magazines. SIr Clive was a huge influence on many of us who grew up in the 70's/80's and I can only thank him for the huge amount of joy he gave me as a 12 year old boy in 1983, and the following years.
R.I.P. Sir Clive.
10 Print "RIP Sir Clive Sinclair"
20 Goto 10
You could have at least got the syntax right for Spectrum BASIC and capitalised the keywords e.g. PRINT and GO TO.
Yes, my ZX Spectrum was there to help with my homework, well the opposite was probably true but my parents were convinced, well maybe not. The legacy continues especially now the support for the Spectrum is current and ongoing. Thanks for taking the time to produce this. Yes, Geoff's comment regarding life before/ after, with/without computers, completely true for me. Respects.
Rip Sir Clive, one of my heroes. I had a 48K Spectrum, great starter home computer
What a guy. RIP Clive
RIP "Uncle" Clive. Nice tribute.
I'm one of those programmers from the Spectrum generation. My parents gave me the money to buy one and in hindsight that was the best money they ever spent on me.
Great video. A man who changed the computing world with a machine that was much more than the sum of its parts. RIP Clive.
Thank you for a fantastic tribute to the greatest man i ver met. The futre will be a sad place, without this most inovative god.
Thank you, Paul, Geoff, and, of course, Sir Clive. Lives were changed; mine included.
That must have been a difficult video to produce.
I must add - the Z88 would have been a worthy inclusion to the list of innovations. Extraordinary product on reflection.
Paul's absolutely spot on ; changed the course of the country.
I still have a Sinclair DM2 multimeter. It still works and is in spec. RIP Sir Clive.
Thanks for this! Hes definetly underrated in modern times. While he had a lot of misses he laid the foundations for others to improve on and bring products to market. As for the spectrum i still think computers today would have been very different and bred a generation of programmers.
this man helped to form me My mom got me a digital pen that shaped my path to digital design. Still unreal that hes gone. RIP Clive
My first computer was a 16k spectrum in 1983
Thank you Uncle Clive. 😭
Thanks for posting this Paul.
The ZX Spectrum 48k was my first computer.
I had a cricket game I loved playing on it but it wasn't true to life so I updated/rewrote the Basic code for it. 45 years later and I'm still creating/rewriting code.
All thinks to Sir Clive's ZX Spectrum.
Really surprised how down the news made me feel, as if a favourite Uncle had passed away. Such a legendary figure to whom I am so grateful. Great tribute Paul, was wondering if you'd post something, so glad you did.
Very well done tribute to the great man
This gentleman was great.... we...lost him.
The Spec was the first usable computer that I could afford. At the shop, they tried to sell me a far less capable Atom, but I insisted. I learned a LOT on that tiny machine. Z80 assembly, Forth. Given that the next stage would have been around 1987, I would have missed half a decade of experience.
So, Sir Sinclair. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. My (professional) life wouldn't have been the same without you.
Fantastic tribute. the ZX48 was my into to home computing and I never looked back :) Thanks
The final words from Jeff say it all, changed the course of the country. Man. What a loss.
An real visionary that did a lot more than just home computers. Shame he was not more successful in his later innovations.
Simply wonderful!
Nice tribute Paul, all the more impressive for putting it together so quickly.
Fantastic, a true innovator
The first computer I ever used was a ZX81 at school, when I was about 11. Was proud to code (although we called it program in those days) a black square on screen in BASIC. My best friend Leigh got a ZX Spectrum a year later. Wow it had colour, so I had to have one! I got a 48k Spectrum in Christmas 1983 (I think), along with games of the era - Hungry Horace and Jet Set Willy and several others. A couple of years later Elite came out. I lost so many hours on that game. It dominated my late childhood. Yes, there was a lot of game swapping going on in the playground. Leigh had a bit of a “business” going, selling copies for 20p or so each. In Christmas 1987, I got a Spectrum +2. Tried my hand (unsuccessfully) at games programming. RIP Sir Clive. Thanks for the memories!
Wonderful Paul and thanks for keeping the scene very much alive with your work....a tribute in itself...
Never actually had a Sinclair machine, started with the Vic20, then the BBC B, Atari STFM, then back to Commodore with the Amiga 500 and 1500. But would like to take my hat off to one of the early Pioneers of British computing, R.I.P. Clive, a character of your time.
Thanks SIR Clive. Cambió la vida de todos para mejor. Nos regaló felicidad. Descansa en paz maestro. From Argentina.
Thank you Clive. You changed my chilhood opening new doors for the imagination.
Lovely tribute :o)
have to say though the pc200 was an amstrad machine not a sinclair one. I worked for amstrad at the time and we showcased it at one of the pc shows at earls court
Amstrad PC20 in Sinclair black clothing.
Here in Russia we almost never had any 'real' Spectrums or other Sinclair stuff, but we sure cloned Spectrums a lot, all with their own weird and wonderful quirks and improvements (or sometimes faults , lol). It lasted way longer here it feels, with commercial, factory-made clones being made all the way 'till the mid 90's in some places.
Software was mostly bootlegged (of course), sometimes adapted for TR-DOS floppy disk system; some clones also ran CP/M. A lot of impressive coding went into demos, which are still fun to watch every once in a while.
Probably my first ever experience of a computer was Pentagon 48k made by my dad.
RIP Sir Clive.
Hi Paul, Thanks for this video much appreciated. As text is limited I wanted to put an idea out there. A lot of us will understand the impact this man had on us as individuals, not to mention the country and computing industry. Whilst we are taking statues down across this land, is there not a case to have one put up of Sir Clive Sinclair. This man should be remembered
Really nice tribute Paul.
R.I.P Sir Clive,thank you for making our childhood so exciting and fun.
5:47 Frogger is particuarly notable, the ZX81 version was a very early example of a licenced conversion.
14:23 Thro The Wall. Hilariously, it was a colorised version of a game that Psion had sold commericially on the ZX81, and here was an improved version for free on the Horizons tape.
Thanks for this excellent tribute!
You can trace back my entire career to a purchase in 1982 of a £50 ZX81. Too poor to afford a Spectrum (and I probably couldn't have got hold of one anyway due to the supply issues). i was a 17 year old school kid, and it was magical. I eventually got the Memopak 16k which was a much better designed ram pack and didn't wobble - it had velcro(!).
I never had a Spectrum back then (too poor as I said) but i used to badger my more well-off friends and go around their houses to play on theirs, and to wow them with my BASIC programming skills.
Later i jumped ship to the Commodore 64, and from there my career truly took off, but the ZX81 started it all (with a bit of school experience with Nascom's, RML 380Z's and BBC Micros to help round it out as well).
The thing is many people (especially US commentators) dismiss the ZX machines as shoddy, and primitive compared to the US machines that were available at the time.
However those machines were unaffordable to the vast majority of the ordinary British public. The ZX81 at £50 in 1982 was equivalent to nearly £200 today, which was vastly cheaper than the US computers and the BBC micro which retailed for many hundreds of pounds back then - thousands of pounds in today's money.
Sinclair, and later Commodore when the C64 price dropped, kick-started an entire UK development industry, and there are huge numbers of people like me who are still working in computer development decades later.
This is an amazing legacy for Sir Clive, and it's a shame it's not more widely recognised.
i had a go on a zike at an earls court bike expo in 1992. it was good fun to ride (unfortunately didn't see sir clive though).
although i am a child of the c64 i can see what the spectrum did for making home computing affordable for people and what a gamechanger it was forever afterwards (both for home computing and games). rip sir clive.
Hermoso tributo a un Genial creador, innovador y sobre todas las cosas... , un Soñador!!
My brother bought his first computer - ZX Spectrum for SGD700 through his UK colleague. I was so excited when we opened the box and hooked it up to a Sony Trinitron TV. I played Hungry Horace and Ant Attacks. The latter 3D is awesome @ that time th-cam.com/video/Va5SKaYL3r8/w-d-xo.html Thanks, Sir Clive Sinclair. RIP. You are indeed a visionary. You created a computer before the BBC micro. Your electric vehicle - C5 is way ahead of the future.
A great tribute Paul, you’ve done the great man proud 👍
A fantastic inventor. RIP Clive.
And that is why I'm sitting in front of a home built 16 core CPU 4.2 Ghz, 64Gb RAM 6 Terabyte PC! I owe my computer knowledge to Sinclair. I had a ZX81, a Spectrum which I upgraded to 48K! My first in-roads into upgrading computers. From then onto an Acorn Electron, BBC B, BBC Master, Archimedes then finally to PC's. I've seen and done a lot!