Sir Clive Sinclair has died

Sir Clive Sinclair, the inventor and entrepreneur who was instrumental in bringing home computers to the masses, has died at the age of 81.His daughter, Belinda, said he died at home in London on Thursday morning after a long illness. Sinclair invented the pocket calculator but was best known for popularising the home computer, bringing it to British high-street stores at relatively affordable prices. The ZX80 and ZX81 made him very rich: in 2010 Sinclair told the Guardian: "Within two or three years, we made £14m profit in a year." Sinclair became a household name as his products flew off the shelves and was awarded a knighthood in 1983. The C5, a battery-powered electric trike, was launched in January 1985, with Sinclair predicting sales of 100,000 in the first year. The following year, Sinclair sold his computer business to Amstrad. The Sinclair TV80, a pocket TV, was another device, like the C5, that did not catch on, although people now regularly view programmes on their mobile phones. Belinda Sinclair said: "It was the ideas, the challenge, that he found exciting. He'd come up with an idea and say, 'There's no point in asking if someone wants it, because they can't imagine it.'".