He later moved into computing, and in 1980 launched the UK’s first mass-market home computer for less than £100, the Sinclair ZX80. This was about one fifth the cost of other home computers at the time and sold around 50,000 units. This was later succeeded by the Sinclair Research, the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum.
He was awarded a knighthood in 1983.
Sinclair's company became the first in the world to sell more than a million computers, making the entrepreneur a household name. His computers were also used for early computer games which came on audio tape and later, 3” floppy disks.
On Twitter, Tesla founder Elon Musk called Sinclair the father of the ZX Spectrum: “RIP, Sir Sinclair. I loved that computer,” he added.
Despite his penchant for invention, Sinclair never made use of his own gadgets – he opted to carry a slide-rule instead of his pocket calculator and he would tell interviewers that he used neither a computer nor email.
According to his daughter...