Micro Men - 720p (2009)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- www.bbc.co.uk/p...
DURATION: 1 HOUR, 20 MINUTES
Affectionately comic drama about the British home computer boom of the early 1980s.
Legendary inventor Clive Sinclair battles it out with ex-employee Chris Curry, founder of Acorn Computers, for dominance in the fledgling market.
The rivalry comes to a head when the BBC announce their Computer Literacy Project, with the stated aim of putting a micro in every school in Britain. When Acorn wins the contract, Sinclair is furious, and determines to outsell the BBC Micro with his ZX Spectrum computer.
Home computing arrives in Britain in a big way, but is the country big enough for both men?
BBC - Please release this on Blue Ray with some nice extras, it is a work of art.
Credits
Clive Sinclair
Alexander Armstrong
Chris Curry
Martin Freeman
Hermann Hauser
Edward Baker-Duly
Steve Furber
Sam Phillips
Roger Wilson
Stefan Butler
Jim Westwood
Colin Carmichael
Nigel Searle
Derek Ridell
Valerie
Rhona Croker
Cynthia
Anne Beth Hayes
Ann Sinclair
Nicola Harrison
Director
Saul Metzstein
Producer
Andrea Cornwell
Writer
Tony Saint
Our museum was involved in making this film. Loved every minute of it!! :)
Your museum is awesome! If I won the lottery I would quit my job and come volunteer full time!
i used to go all the time but its a two and a half hour drive
HI I've been researching my Dad's history as he actually met Alan Turing while Turing was working on the Manchester computer back in the late 1940's. My Dad did some patent work on the design.
ewaf88 That's really cool. Your dad had a role in a very important historical event then. Good luck with your research :)
You made a couple of big mistakes with the acript...
Jet Set Fucking Willy doesn't have levels
Sir Clive Sinclair
30 July 1940 - 16 September 2021 - Rest in peace.
You get the last laugh, the C5 was a success, just ahead of it's time.
You made the 80's amazing and prepared this nerdy kid for the world we now live in, thank you.
Amen -_-
@@simonebernacchia5724 Press and hold F to Uncle Sinclair.
He didn't belive in computers, but the Scene did believe in his invention.
Now I have to re-watch this and try not to cry a million times (Canadian owner of three C5s here!)
Yeah, that final scene could perhaps have also had a Tesla drive past too.
Just to remind us that the vision behind the C5 was entirely sound - and, indeed, will undoubtedly be the future, as the internal combustion engine will be banned from sale from 2030 onwards in the UK - but that Sir Clive was attempting it decades before the battery technology could reasonably support it. So his "electric car" was too compromised, and was more of a souped-up electric bike (albeit in horizontal, rather than vertical, form) than a true electric car.
It didn't start with Elon Musk, or even the EV1 from GM. It started with Sir Clive.
RIP Uncle Clive
@@EQuivalentTube2 that’s blatantly not true. He wasn’t anti computer, he said once that it was an expensive fad. Then he capitalised on the fad. Then he got stitched.
ARM is Acorn's most brilliant, powerful and enduring legacy, it really can't be overstated, its massive. So I really appreciated the background reference on the whiteboard that can be seen from 1:18:39 to 1:19:28. Like Obi-wan Kenobi's famous words, "If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine", nobody in the 80's could possibly have imagined just how powerful ARM would become long after Acorn's demise.
^^^ "just how powerful ARM would become" ^^^^ Very good joke, ironic considering it is the low power that counts!
Chris Curry said, that there was no chance, that spinning off ARM as a separate business would be a success.
He said that, to stay relevant they would need to sell at least 50,000 processors!
@@volo870 230 billion arm chips as of 2022.😊
@@dna9838 It is ironic how sales of 200,000 Apple Newtons are deemed a failure for Apple, but a great success for ARM.
Steve Furber and Sophie Wilson should be decorated for this work of genius that is the ARM chip, it's such a massive contribution to todays society, absolutely sums up what made Britain great
I have to admit, I have watched this more times than I have any film!!
Same!
And me!! 😜😜
There's just something very special about it :D
It's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good, I grew up in this time and they totally nail it.
I think I've probably watched it...hmm, maybe 25 times?
I'm forever grateful for the work Sir Clive Sinclair did. His ZX Spectrum machine was so easy to get started on for programming, and quickly get results onscreen and moving around. Paved the way for me to spend my entire life developing computer games, and having great fun while making a good living at it. Hats off to you, Sir.
My tribute to Sir Clive:
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
For your iPad you should thank Steve Furber and Roger/Sophie Wilson more than Sir Clive.
Exactly the same for me; I programmed on a ZX81 aged 9 and became a software developer and still work in IT these days (though not with ZX81s anymore).
@@TheUglyGnome yes they developed the ARM processor. However Clive had the innovation and his ideas were well ahead of their time in my view, case in point:
th-cam.com/video/PqivyqPW5pM/w-d-xo.html
@@TheUglyGnome Indeed. The ARM processor is still with us today.
Same here.
10 PRINT "THANK YOU "
20 GOTO 10
run
10 PRINT "THANK YOU. ";
RUN
@Mytheroo come on we all know it is
10 REPEAT
20 PRINT "Thank you"
30 UNTIL FALSE
GOTO indeed 😀
What every kid did when in the computer section of the department store, in the 80s.
Bzzzt... Error Code 5!
Glad to have grown up in the 80s experiencing first hand the BBC Acorn at school, and the release of the ZX Spectrum at home. Good times. Glad to have been a part of it.
When I was in my first year at high school in 97 they still had Acorn computers in the library, one or two Win 95 machines and a couple of Macintosh's. In primary i got to use a BBC Micro with a pen interface.
Watching this tonight in honour of Sir Clive who died today (16/09/21) R.I.P.
Me too
'Sir Clive Sinclair' The man who bought you Jet Set Fucking Willy. :)
Damn, the 80's were beige.
Such nostalgia! What a brilliant film. Never get bored of watching this over and over. It was a great and exciting time to be growing up in!
brilliant could of have a spinoff, it had buzz, to it
I can't count how many times I've watched this. It's a time machine, takes me back to those exciting years.
Absolutely, this film really does take me back to the early 80's. Great nostalgia as you say.. 😊
Being from the states, this is something I love about the British. The head of two big companies have a confrontation in a pub, a scuffle ensues, some choice words, then they go their separate ways. Holy moly, in America there would be police called, lawyers hired, witnesses rounded up and endless litigation. As Noel Redding said, “good bye America, land of litigation “.
In Britain to thing great minds of intelligent, wit, cunning and technology. The golden years with cheap thousand games to the British standards with Spectrums.
That's why I bought an American made C64 after the ZX81. Very disappointed with it and couldn't afford the expensive BBC model B
Three things America has brought to the world
1. Fast food obesity
2. the increased threat of nuclear war
3. And Finally, a litigation culture
Stfu, we don't need anymore America haters
I don't think you can blame the US for number 2. Either they had the bomb first, or the Nazis or the Soviet Union would have. I know who I'd rather have it first.@@markhodgson2348
"It's like trying to read braille through gardening gloves"
Never have I heard a better assessment of the ZX80 keyboard.
That's true, but have you honestly ever smelled anything the same? I'm still trying to find that smell..
Could someone please ask Mr Metzstein or the BBC if they will do a spin-off drama of Micro Men about Steve Furber, Sophie Wilson and the other people at Acorn who went on to produce the ARM CPU?
The story of them visiting the Western Design Center in the US is brilliant - they expected to see them in a big building using the latest cutting-edge tech to make their processors, but it turned out that they were essentially working out of a suburban house. lol
Steve and Sophie saw what the US guys were doing, and said "we could do that". :)
The ARM CPU core the Acorn team developed has been used in over 50 Billion devices to this date!
It's a fantastic success story. Even if the original Acorn company itself didn't last the 90s, the innovations it made are now being used by almost all of us on a daily basis.
The BBC made a pretty good go of the Acorn to ARM story in podcast form. Look up "Stephen Fry: on the Phone".
Holy shit... I had an acorn electron as a kid.. my first computer actually.. ive been coding the ARM CPU for YEARS!!! mainly in the GBA .. NDS.. etc.. NEVER!!! knew it was the acorn team that made it.. how amazing!!! tnx man.. I would love to see that..
sheepthehack Arm originally stood for Acorn Risc Machine - they changed it to “Advanced” when apple placed a big order for it’s Newton. it was actually posted in comp.sys.acorn back in 91 when I was farting about on the ARM 2 in the Archimedes 😀
ARM was a british success story, but alas, sold off to foreign investors, so it's not British anymore. In terms of skills, Britain could be world leading, when applied, but lacks organisation and self-confidence, and ability to raise capital like it's American cousin, that is all.
@@tensevo Sad but true. The UK and in particular Cambridge, where all of this was filmed has turned into a colony of multi-nationals where the only way upwards is a shiny MBA agree and the ability to say "yes boss", which stifles all the talent that could be putting us toe-to-toe with the US.
Mein erster Computer war der ZX81. Den hatte ich mir mühsam zusammen gespart. Auch die Speichererweiterung und den Drucker mit den silbernen Rollen. Ich weiß noch wie viel Freude ich hatte als es mir gelang das Spiel Frogger mit dem speziellen Basic und der Folientastatur zu programmieren. Durch diesen kleinen Computer erwarb ich mir die Grundkenntnisse über Hardware und Programmierung. Auch wenn ich beruflich einen ganz anderen Weg gegangen bin als in der IT zu arbeiten so hat mir dieses Wissen bis heute geholfen. Danke Sir Clive Sinclair. Mögen Sie in Frieden ruhen.
Am I the only one who thinks Clive Sinclair looks and sounds like a supervillain?
he also looks like one
I thought it was quite funny when he threw the phone through the window. I bet this in depth look into Sir Clive Sinclair is not too far from the truth in terms of his temper when things didn't go his way. But none the less this was an awesome watch.
Both he and Chris Curry weren't happy with their respective portrayals. Though you cannot help but wonder how truthful they themselves are being. If something in your past is embarrassing then of course you're prone to lying or about or blurring the truth.
Yes. Retrospective analysis, to pinch a line that Steve Furber used in an interview to describe Herman Hauser's view on past events.
Yeah it's was pretty stupid.
Very enjoyable watching this, I found it rather sad at the end seeing Sir Clive driving his C5 only to be overtaken by those 2 trucks, one showing Microsoft, the other showing HP.
Actually, the first truck to be seen is a truck showing the Compaq logo. But you can see it only briefly when the truck is driving by. Probably the BBC didn't get the licence for showing the Compaq logo :)
Fun fact: The pub lady ringing the bell at 1:21:23 is Sophie Wilson (formerly Roger Wilson) who played a big part in the development of the ARM processor.
Yes, the long haired skinny guy. Sophie, as he is now known has is probably one of the most intelligent people on the planet. She wrote the entire Risc OS in her head before committing it to paper. Do a Google search for Sophie Wilson to see what she is up to today.
She was on Christmas University Challenge over the 2017 season.
How cool. I never spotted that when I watched it before.
@@unlokia No she was made a female with male genitals.
@@unlokia No, but god made you a pleb.
Wonderful, wonderful film. Yes, it's a dramadoc so a few liberties are taken (*cough* Amstrad CPC in a "1981" show scene). But it's still fantastic. Even little things like the old WH Smith logo take me back to the 80s effortlessly. (First computer was a ZX81; these days I have a Beeb. So a foot in both camps. Eventually!)
Yeah, that scene is a bit weird, especially with the use of computers that clearly have multi-colour and sound at a time when few machines had either.
@alfa-psi He ain't totally wrong.
@@pferreira1983 To my mind, it's only garbage if you expect it to be a pure documentary. The very first screen you see makes it clear some of it is fiction.
I wish see similar film about Alan Sugar and Amstrad. :)
It had to end with Jean Michel Jarre :)
I would have prefered Kraftwerk, but what the heck...
Perfection
"HE'S BLOODY WHERE?"
The biggest legacy of Sinclair's Spectrum is a game you may have heard about called Grand Theft Auto..which was created by DMA Design..a company in Dundee in Scotland who produced games for the Spectrum. They became inspired by a Spectrum driving game called Turbo Esprit, changed their name to RockStar, and went on to produce the most successful and longest running video game in history.
That's quite a stretch to bring in GTA.
@@pferreira1983 not really
For instance, if they never made spectrum games, then turbo esprit wouldn't have inspired them to make gta
@@badmeme486 There are a lot of companies that started on the Spectrum and continued onto consoles. So?
@@pferreira1983 that wasn't my point - also, gta was first released on DOS i think
This was awesome. Never heard of this film before, thanks for posting it. Great to see a perspective on early computing that doesn't just hype Microsoft and Apple.
I'm 43 years old. Thank you sir for the very first vivid childhood impressions of the World of Computer Games.
R.I.P.
Such a shame Clive was a shit businessman. Not to mention Curry, we could have ruled the world with our technical prowess. But as British as we are. we gave our success away.
Alexander Armstrong playing Clive Sinclair as more or less a 1970s Dr. Who villain is the kind of unintentional entertainment that just grabs me.
Sophie Wilson (formerly Roger Wilson) serving behind the bar at the end. Nice touch.
We should start a Kickstarter to buy Sir Clive a Tesla S.... just so we can post a video of him receiving it, and chucking another phone through a window, only you can be it will be an ARM based mobile, ho the irony.
This has not aged well
@@slothcunt8353 Neither do mortal beings, generally.
I had no idea there was such a rivalry going on in England same time Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were beefing in the US! This is great movie and now I am shopping for a Sinclair Spectrum AND a BBC Micro AND an Acorn Atom! hahaha
AND also get yourself a BBC Archimedes A3000, the successor to the Beeb
RIP Clive Sinclair, gone to silicon heaven.
With all the calculators.
A man ahead of his time in many ways. The spectrum even though he didn't really like the idea of it as a games machine got so many people into computing. The Z80 and ZX81 started the revolution for affordable home computing. If only the C5 had been a Scooter it would have been a sucess
C5 was a failure because the technology wasn't there, if he had today's lithium ion batteries it would have been a very different story.
@@markenetube Yes, but the claimed 20 miles was not even close to realistic. The design was mainly influenced by the limited power the lead acid batteries it had could provide. If he had better batteries to work with it would have been a less compromised design with much better actual range. Considering the technology he had to work with the C5 was actually pretty good.
@@schrodingerscat1863 Imaging a modern day mobility scooter design with more room for the batteries. I remeber the news report after it was launched. Lorry drivers were complaining C5's were so low you could not see them. That is why so many were fitted with those huge fiberglass whips with flags on the top.
This is a little about it "Even in the 1980s, a time when cars were getting very fast but not really that much safer, the 2'7″ Sinclair C5 was a death trap on public roads. What else would you expect? It was basically a tricycle you could use on the road if you had balls as big toasters. No roll cage."
@@schrodingerscat1863 well, lithium ion batteries, a faster speed, covered driving to protect from the rain and sun, 4 wheels or at least put single wheel at back for better stability, taller so lorries don't flatten them, a reverse gear, ability to go up hills... But other than that, it would have been a roaring success 😉
@@dna9838 Most of the problems you point out were a consequence of very limited power storage and expensive power electronics of the day. There was very little money left for the actual structure of the vehicle to keep it a reasonable price. Modern batteries have huge power densities and are much lighter compared to the lead acid batteries available at the time. Also the kind of efficient power electronics needed and available for pennies these days cost a fortune back then.
I remember me and my brother saving our money together to buy a 16K ZX Spectrum from WH Smiths. What wonderful, lovely days!
Really don't know why the BBC has never released this on DVD or Bluray...
get with the times optical media is dead
Considering this is from 2009, a physical media release would not have been "out of the ordinary".
They have not released it as a download from their store either.
gimpymoo especially since Martin Freeman has really exploded in popularity you'd think this would have a release!
They rarely do, a lot of this has to do with music licensing. From what I understand the BBC pays blanket usage rights for domestic broadcast. If they were to sell a DVD with copyrighted material they'd have to contract on a song per song basis of anything in the program, which would be a PITA, not to mention very expensive. With something like this the market isn't there to justify the hassle & expense.
Because it's shite, and wouldn't sell; why else.
At 1:20:00 and at 1:21:20 the pub landlady is the Roger Wilson (Sophie Wilson after gender reassignment). The actor Stefan Butler plays the role of Roger Wilson with the long hair. He appears many times in the movie. He is the man with the long hair at the left at 56:00 next to Steve Furber (played by Sam Philips). Both Wilson and Furber invented the ARM CPUs, originally named Acorn RISC Machine which is present in all iPhones, iPads nowadays and nearly or smartphones and tablets. From the Acorn computers originates the Arm Holdings. Apple pays the Arm Holdings in Cambridge for the right to use ARM CPUs. So the legacy of acorn computers is still present.
You can check a presentation of Acorn computer by Sophie Wilson when he was Roger Wilson in 1987.
th-cam.com/video/KKTa54UikgE/w-d-xo.html
I usually listen or watch this movie when I work designing and making homebrew Electronics and homebrew computers. I feel completely inspired each time I listen the story of BBC Micro and Sinclair. Maybe I've watched this movie 70 or 80 times from 2009 until now...
Re-re-re-watching this. It always makes me feel sad for what could have been.
I love how Sophie Wilson is in the background of a film that dramatizes the early days of Acorn Computers, before her transition.
Where?
Who is george taylor who turned £15 of holiday money into a £3 million business?
With Peter Davison in a (very minor) role, the throwaway remark about Doctor Who is even funnier!
They should make sequels of this. The story of Amstrad, of Amiga, of Atari, every time other company of the old home micros.
NostalgiaNerd makes good little docs
I love my Amiga
@@OnVentUK good shout, definitely check Nostalgia Nerd's channel - some quality documentaries there
At once nostalgic, hilarious, and thought-provoking. Thank you for posting.
Good and funny movie. Other similar set in the same period: "Pirates Of Silicon Valley", "Halt and catch fire"
I keep thinking that every scene is going to end with Clive Sinclair pressing a button and saying "KILL THEM".
RIP Sir Clive. My first computer was a ZX Spectrum, brought me years of Happy fun.
And studios wonder why people pirate. The BBC, to their shame, have still not released this on DVD.
“Clive Sinclair...the man who brought you Jet set fucking Willy” is one of the best quotes ever
RIP Sir Clive, you were a true pioneer
One of the best docudramas I have ever seen. Love this one!
Wonderful film. I wish we could go back to the 80's. It was a wonderful time to be a kid.
It was an even better time to be in your 20s. Pure magic. And those old computers were so much fun before everything became about Very Serious Business Uses (even the magazines changed, it was very sad)
@@KevDaly I still have a shitload of those old magazines. Everyone told me to toss then, wel fuck that!
Your sentiments resonate with me too, the Spectrum was my first home computer and right from Christmas Day playing the only game available - Spectral Invaders I was hooked and taught myself basic programming on that great machine. My parents said they were going to get me the 16k version but they bought me the 48k version which was a really nice surprise! So many hours and even years of enjoyment I will always be thankful for. Little did we know or really care at that age what was going on behind the scenes of the business. Not sure how accurate this docudrama is but Sinclair had good ideas but the technology wasn’t there to support him sometimes - now we have the Tesla, he had the C5 which is laughable now but from small Acorns ... pun intended!
Brilliant! I had a BBC Micro and a ZX Spectrum when I was growing up. I had no idea there was such rivalry. What a shame both companies no longer exist. Great times and very fond memories.
alula media acorn still exists as ARM
Acorn's 'Acorn Risc Machine' processors are still rather successful, they are now just known as 'ARM' and licensed ARM cores are in everything form mobile phones to washing machines. The company ARM was a spinoff from Acorn so it is essentially a bit of Acorn still in business.
I wish I had one (I'm 14 y/o but still I like that stuff)
Wonderful. Absolutely stunning performances all round. I have to re-watch this regularly to remind me of those heady, creative times!
Still blows my mind that these same Acorn guys developed the original ARM CPU, an architecture that is now the most ubiquitous on earth right now.
There should be statues of these guys......
@smylexx lol smylexx
Armstrong is the best Sinclair ever. far better even than the original Clive Sinclair :-)
yes he makes, a good actor you can tell he it all into the playing the part 👌👌
36:23 Oh the horror. They're eating with Multimeter Plugs
Probes
JARRE , KRAFTWERK....great music.. great video..lot of memories on those old computers!
All the tracks featured in Micro Men are by European artists. No Americans. I suspect that's a design decision rather than a coincidence.
[You can make a case that "A Fifth of Beethoven" is by an American (Walter Murphy) but I'm fairly confident Ludwig was the main composer there.]
@@careyphillips9401 Dont forget Vangelis Pulsar in the introduction. A cover of the original but.
So many of us here got our start with this tech. Extrapolate that influence to the hundreds or thousands of people who we helped get started. Even today, after a long and exciting career in tech I mentor kids around the world in robotics and I know they will all go on to teach others.
I am from a family of hard labor workers, but Sinclair's affordable tech busted me out of that mold and changed my life, and many others.
Rest in Peace Sir.
1:18:39 - Project A - ARM. The shape of things to come. "They'll think of something. Maybe they already have."
THIS WAS GREAT! Regards from germany
I had both a ZX80 and a ZX81 as a child. They were fantastic! I work as a Software Developer today, and that's all thanks to Clive !!!
Actually, a friend of mine had a BBC micro.
Still got my Beeb and my A3000
I never get bored of watching this! Just fabulous. “Their oxtail soup is warming. And nutritious!”
@The Blue Max my wife has even started saying it! Warming. And nutritious. I’m getting that slogan on a tee shirt!
"Mmm. Very filling!"
I always feel this was a bit unfair on Clive Sinclair - though I'm told the rages definitely did happen :) He had a quiet sort of charisma and complete self-confidence - maybe a bit more likeable than Alexander Armstrong's portrayal (though it was excellent in many ways)
Jim Westwood, too, he looks petrified half the time, heh
But it's a beautiful film - the nostalgia for me is just wonderful
Sinclair throwing the phone and shouting "Bloody fucking hell!!". that's my favourite part. LOL 52:26
Aaahh thanks for uploading this, and in HD! Martin Freeman is great but Alexander Armstrong is incredible as Sir Clive -- really captured the life force the man must have had to accomplish what he did. The man who gave us Jet Set fucking Willy lol.
Seriously, an Amstrad in 1981? Cinematic inaccuracies hurt so much.
Fascinating to the point that I am engrossed in this film like few others have ever been able to.
Thank you to the up-loader, I was not aware that this moment in history had been produced. I do say that it is better than most Hollywood blockbusters that cost millions.
Great job showing this time period. I love the soundtrack
It's amazing to think that (indirectly) thanks to Sir Clive, we have the company called ARM, responsible for outfitting millions of mobile devices so we can play Jet Set Fucking Willy in an emulator. :)
I remember in high school we were still using BBC acorns in 1994, learning spreadsheets. By then they had all turned a dark beige colour and the IT department had got the caretaker to write the school name in tipex over the top of the keyboards and monitors to deter thief's.😅
Best line. "HE'S BLOODY WHERE!?!?!?!!!" @ 41:58
Although not quite sure I buy that the person on the other end of the phone would have told him where he was.
Kraftwerk "Pocket Calculator" 43:14 :)
I've watched this many many times, and I still love it.
This show needs to be released dvd! It's fantastic!
It won't be, sadly. These days physical media is less important than it was a decade ago, and as someone said in a different thread the music rights would be a real pain.
Yep, I tried to buy it years ago but sadly never transferred to DVD.. ☹️
The inclusion or cameo appearance at 1:21:25 of the real Sophie Wilson (formerly Roger Wilson) remains a lovely touch to this story.
Jim Westwood's in it as well, in the background in the WHSmith scene.
The World would be a better place if we had more pioneering and brilliant minds like Sophie Wilson (Roger Wilson)
I'm not sure if I agree with you.
I tend to ignore the gender that people identify with. as it isn't relevant.
And respect those with with great minds.
And ignore those with small minds.
I'm sure you would agree with me?
+Marco Di Franco No. I am jealous of those who have evolved to have great minds, since I have been told that I, as a homophobe, necessarily have a very small mind. Oh well, I'll be dead soon enough and it won't matter.
"A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" - Robert Browning (Thanks for the recommendation, Dave - EEVblog)
sick movie :) sinclair wasent a very likable person , but he affected my childhood my parents gave me a digital pen that let me into digital art today i make games. thank you Sinclair. enyone else thinks that the "sinclair" logo looks very 2023. or its timeless i cant make my mind.
Happy 40th ZX Spectrum
i absolutely flippin love this drama, it's superb.
In an alternate universe, Chris persuaded Clive to produce the first consumer market PC, the British government would continue their financial support and in just a few years' time, Britain had a 139 Million Pound state supported corporation.
Absolutely brilliant. I grew up in those times, read all the articles and was totally entranced by computing. It was an exciting time if you were a nerd!
4000 cigarettes smoked in the making of this film
more i say
Sorry to be picky, but Chris Curry drove to the BBC in an A-plate fiesta, meaning it was registered in 1983. The BBC micro came out in 1981.
The acting,writing and shooting are great in the film!
The English humor in it is also great!
Love this film.
A truly fascinating use case in the computer industry with a marvelous performance and thrilling piece of computer history. A superb production!
Did Sinclair really pioneer home Computers and develop the Spectrum of all things to shit on his former employee he couldn't be bothered to appreciate?
great movie. I love the point where Acorn is sure they need to move down in price for a gaming alternative, while Sinclair wants to move up in the market to be taken more seriously. They both wanted more pie, but the pie was all gone.
Yeah, things could have been so different if the Sinclair QL and Acorn Electron were never made. Acorn and Sinclair both occupied successful segments in the computer industry, and it was their attempts to take each other on that was the downfall of both of them.
Clive Sinclair sounds just like Blackadder, in the first series!
+ncf1 ? um no.. he dosent.. different actor
Was Sinclair really Davros.
Amazing programme but geez sinclair threw alot temper tantrums but in the end they both fell, olivetti went bust and so did amstrad so there was no winners at the end of the day
Acorn Computers might have connections in high places but Sinclair sold more.
One of my favourite movies.
Though to be picky... wasn't that Amstrad at the computer show a couple of years too early? ;-)
Sir Clive way ahead of his time.His vision for electric cars is coming true.
Indeed, something that wasn't even obvious when the programme was made in 2009.
I know Clive Sinclair's sister Fiona quite well but have never met him. But the zx spectrum was my first computer and it was what got me into programming. It was Fiona later on who advised me to go on to university to study computer science. I think it is a real shame the car didn't work out and he had to sell out to Alan Sugar who is a good businessman and all that but isn't a brilliant inventor like Clive. God knows what he might have come up with by now if it hadn't been for that.
+Dan Shepherd inventor no, fame hogging parasite
Yes Dan. It's a real shame that the box shifters like Sugar always seem to win out over innovation.
Don't knock Sugar to much - the machines were bloody good value. I had a PC1512 and it was bloody cheap.
There will be a Micro Men live Stream tomorrow evening, 17/09/2021 at 8pm here - th-cam.com/video/yf7PgmQ5TNk/w-d-xo.html
Hopefully we can have a chat, enjoy he film and raise a glass to the man.
Share the link with whoever you can.
It is OK to cry, the world is a better place because Sir Clive was in it.
I don't know what it is about this film - it's not really a movie, it's not really a documentary, it's fairly inaccurate, and some of the acting isn't brilliant. But it's like a warm bath full of all my favourite things, and Alexander Armstrong's representation of Clive is amazing. I've watched it a zillion times and the dialogue is now burnt into my brain. LOVE IT!
I do feel rather silly saying this, and I obviously didn't read the credits, but I never realised Alexander Armstrong was Sinclair. I watched it and was absorbed, and then I got my sister over to watch it again (although she has no interest in the history of computers but never mind) and she did watch it and said "Alexander Armstrong was pretty good". I was like, what do you mean, Alexander Armstrong? The guy off Pointless? She said "well he was Clive Sinclair wasn't he?" And I was like, ohhhh... And then I felt quite stupid. Great acting though.
Great vid. Armstrong always tickles me in this role; I could almost imagine him in pictured in exactly the same way as here, but in a sitcom of his own.
I love how they characterise Hermann Hauser not knowing how to play games like chess or cards as an analogy to him being a person who doesn't play by the rules.
Amazing film, nice seeing the history. loved my ZX81.