The Sinclair Story, Dale Rodney

The Sinclair Story

A great history book about Sir Clive Sinclair, his inventions and companies.

Sir Clive Sinclair is one of Britain's best-known millionaires; certainly Britain's best-known technical entrepeneur. He brought us the first truly pocketable calculator at a price we could afford-but then his company ran into difficulties. Yet, having lost almost everything, he started afresh and rose again by introducing the first home microcomputer for less than 100. But does he really have, as was once said, an uncanny knack of knowing what is wanted in markets that don't even exist? What about his miniature television?- a dream for over twenty years. What about the C5, the electric vehicle which should have revolutionised personal transport? Is Sinclair a rare combination of commercial acumen and technical genius, or is he a dreamer whose strong personality overrules those who would advise him to curb his enthusiasms? What drives his deep thinker with a practical social conscience. Chairman of British Mensa, and sponsor of activities literary and musical? Can he weather the storms which presently beset his activities? Which of his many dreams will turn into reality, and change our lives yet again? The Sinclair Story is the first full-lenght account of Sir Clive's companies and of the modest and enigmatic man behind them. It is written by an author who has been associated with the Sinclair environment since the beginning.

184 pages, with several black and white (product) photos and reproductions of original adverts.

Contents

1. Prelude
2. Sinclair the scribe
3. Sinclair Radionics 1962-1965
4. The Sinclair hi-fi boom
5. St Ives
6. The rise and fall of the pocket calculator
7. The picture in your briefcase; when time stood still
8. The NEB saga
9. Science of Cambridge and the MK14
10. Sinclair Research and the BBC
11. The ZX82
12. Sinclair goes to the market
13. Question time
14. The ZX83
15. The picture in your pocket
16. The C5 conceived
17. The C5 built
18. Computers in decline
19. Private view