It says everything about him. He wanted to invent things. Unfortunately it was a flawed way of thinking that brought us solutions to problems no one had. So no money. Very sad really.
Without uncle clive, the ZX81 and the Spectrum, my career and life would have turned out very differently. I taught myself programming on a ZX81, then upgraded to a 48k Speccy where I gained an interest in computer graphics which would develop and become my career. While non of my work on the Speccy was ever commercially released, the techniques I learned served me well in my career which spanned the C64, Amiga, PC, Megadrive, SNES, PlayStation, Saturn and more. Thanks Sir Clive, without you, who knows what I would have become!
@@valley_robot In all honesty, nothing terribly exciting! No Dooms, Lemmings, or Jet Set Willy's in my credits, unfortunately! I did work on one game that Kim has described as "utterly shocking" 🤣 Winter Olympics Lillehammer '94 for US Gold. Another game I worked on, Burning Rubber, for Ocean Software, gets remembered more for its Spaceballs "State of the Art" inspired Intro with music from Utah Saints than for its actual gameplay! Throw in some flight sims, a number of sports games, a dreadful attempt at a full-motion video based shooter, and a questionable fruit machine game and you cover most of the bases... Actually, speaking of bases, Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball was a fairly high-profile title I had the "pleasure" of working on for Acclaim, along with NBA Jam TE...which is likely the only game on this list that people will remember fondly!
His legacy will live on as making computing affordable in uk and worldwide. The zx80 and zx81 were my first computers, and the zx spectrum blew my mind and cemented me as an original bedroom gamer for the rest of my life. RIP an Absolute legend and yes Sir Clive you DID bring us jet set willy with Mr Matthew Smith...and thank god you did !
@@lucasoheyze4597 She's not supposed to be a reliable source of information. She's a documentary maker on RU-vid and as such she has NO regulation whatsoever on her work. The thing about Kim is, she's got a very strong work ethic that comes across in her work, and tries to get the story as accurate as possible using the information at hand (often face-to-face interviews with people involved,) as such, she only offers the most up to date knowledge and facts about the people she's making a documentary about. That means there will be discrepancies about the facts she uses, and the knowledge about people and events change all the time. But the thing your comment says about you is that you believe there are cases where RU-vidr's can also be reliable sources of information. So, although your comment was technically right (albeit completely out of context and for the wrong reasons), you have shown yourself as someone who wouldn't know how to find a reliable source of information, and if you were to come across one, wouldn't know how to use it.
The ZX81 was my first computer. I was 17, too poor to afford a Spectrum, but the ZX81 dropped down to £50, putting it just in my reach. That one purchase changed my life, and directly led to my computing career, as it did to many, many other people. Thanks Sir Clive!
Well done, sir. No one finer to make this tribute. I'll never forget unboxing my ZX81 and the wonder of writing my own games in BASIC and the agony of hours of typing in machine code from a magazine. 10 PRINT "R.I.P. Sir Clive" 20 GOTO 10
This was one of those few that really hit me. Its still one of the great frustrations I have in my computer owning life that Clive never really understood how important the Spectrum was and how far it could have gone if appreciated as the games machine everyone wanted it to be. They kept trying to make business spin offs, laptops and so on. As a computer loving game nerd as I'm sure many of us are. We can see it. We saw it as children too. It was so obvious to us how important computers were becoming. Perhaps Clive did understand all that and he just didn't care for it. He invented what he wanted and we certainly can't argue with the legacy he's left.
Thanks...Britain really needs to celebrate this man.... As you said where would we be without his genius...Seems some of his genius was 40 years too early....An electric bicycle, electric car....His ideas were brought down by the technology of the time....I was thinking if he was in his prime now what would he be doing...All I can say is, thank you Sir Clive.
I played Day in the Life the other day when I found out. I remember hating Alan Sugar because I was a spectrum owner, then he bought them out! If it wasn't for Sir Clive I'd never have played Jet Set Willy!!!! Years of my childhood were spent in front of my old telly, breaking joysticks, typing pokes 4 pages long, putting chewing gum in the holes on a c90 so I could copy Ghosts n Goblins off my mate next door.
My 48k rubber keyboard speccy sits in a plastic container under my bed along with a tape recorder (and screwdriver for fine tuning) and a selection of games. I may not use it much these days but I'm never getting rid of the thing, for me it's a priceless part of my youth. RIP Sir Clive, you were a legend sir
Living in America I knew nothing of Sinclair computers until I read Retro Gamer Magazine. After reading an article in the magazine I found the Micro Men movie and watched it. The history of Sinclair, Acorn and Alan Sugar was fascinating to watch. So it makes me a little sad to hear Sir Clive has passed on. RIP, Sir Clive. You will be missed.
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.
My friends had Dragon 32s, BBC Micros, Vic 20s, but they all came round to my house to play on the Speccy 48k! Thanks for all the happy memories Clive.
I never owed a Spectrum but it was the first computer I ever used at a friend's house in 1985. I was so utterly excited by what I was seeing on the screen (and the fact that my friend had a tape with what seemed like 100s of games on it -- cough cough) that I started harassing my parents for one immediately. Ultimately I was to get one a year later; a superior one - the Atari 800XL. But it all started with Sir Clive's rubber keys.
Started with a 2nd hand 16k Spectrum for Christmas 83. Upgraded the memory to 48k for my birthday in May 84. Replaced the keyboard with a large c64 style one later that year when the membrane went. Spent an entire summer holiday six weeks playing Elite. Eventually upgraded to a 128k machine. Good times
I've been watching your back-catalogue of videos on Spectrum games companies all this afternoon - so what a great evening's entertainment I now have lined up in watching this after those you did of UPTG, Ocean and Imagine. If there is one person in RU-vid land that should be destined to make a tribute video to Sir Clive then it is you Kim - so thank you very much for this short and sweet video. I really need to get my original 1984 QL up and running again.
Wow, I had no idea he had died until just now. Incredible legacy. The bedroom coder boom would have been a fragmented fraction of it’s size without him, let alone the number of people he introduced to computing who moved into IT in the 90’s (including me)
Thanks Kim. Somehow your tribute seemed fitting to watch where I'd skipped others that'd come up. And I was pleased to find you did a nice job, I am glad I watched it. Sir Clive certainly had an impact on our lives and the ZX81 and Spectrum have a fond place in my heart. And this is a nice and fitting tribute. Farewell Sir Clive.
Kim was the first person I thought of when I heard the sad news about Sir Clive, which surprisingly did get picked up by some media outlets here in the U.S. I certainly would not have known much about him if not for this channel.
RIP Sir Clive, and thank you. It was Sinclair computers that sparked my life long interest in computers and electronics, plus my career as an electronics engineer.
Those coloured loading bars on Spectrum are my earliest computer related memory.. It was my big brother's, I must've been about 2 or 3 as my bro got a Mega-CD II before I was 5 Much nostalgia.. vividly remember the Trap Door game
I didn't know about him until I saw your documentary in 2017. Since then he has fascinated me and I have grown to admire him. And in some small way be inspired me to carry on in my own endeavors. I missed his passing because I've been double whammyed by deaths in my own family at the same time. The man is a legend and he should never be forgotten.
I got a Timex Sinclair 1000 on a crageslist ad for 20 USD. I wasent expecting much bit I was wrong in a completely different way. The Keyboard was the most surprising. The membrane is responsive but not good. It's the layout and the words. It helped me remember basic commands seeing them there. I know now why it was done. A basic command say "goto" is 4 bytes of data. But how Clive devised it "goto" was crunched into 1 byte saving every bit of that 2k. Amazing just amazing.
Clicked like before I pressed play. The sinclair spectrum was my haven away from being bullied when I went out to play. God bless Clive for giving me a reason to live. RIP.
Here I am, learning that Sir Clive passed away five days late. So far I've only "interacted" with the Spectrum via reading/listening to other people talk about it, but still... An excellent tribute.
THEEE man that brought gaming home to the masses in the U.K, if it wasn't for him there wouldn't have been such a computer gaming boom in the 80's and thanks to him many were able to create games in their houses and go on to develop great games, goodbye Uncle Clive and thank you for bringing us the sexiest 8-bit computer of all time,...the 128k+1 Toastrack, the Rolls Royce of the Spectrum range. P.s, how on earth did Clive marry that lapdancer? Not only could I NOT imagine Clive going to lapdancing clubs (that's if he met her that way) but also talk about a mismatch, bet he couldn't believe his luck at the time!
Only a couple of days before he died, I was cussing his inability to recognise gaming and put some effort into the hardware on that front. Then he died and now I feel bad!
I have no horse in this race because he had no say in my childhood computer world but I've spent so much time getting joy out of watching people who he did affect, the loss feels real.
As a child growing up well behind the Iron Curtain, I learned to program in Basic on an HC-91, a Romanian clone of the ZX Spectrum. This and other Speccy clones were the only computers anyone could afford back then. I owe my career as a game developer as well as quite possibly my livelihood to Sir Clive. May he rest in peace!
My dad was a science teacher so was allowed to bring computers home in the school holidays to learn how to use them. In this way I got to play with Apple II, BBC B, and ZX Spectrum computers in the early 80s despite not owning any of them. The Spectrum was definitely the most fun with Jet-Pac and Jet Set Willy both being particularly good. They were built in the Timex watch factory in Dundee - seems incredible now that we could build high technology mass market products in the UK then.
I remember my Dad getting me a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K back in 1984 and all tho I had many hours of fun playing games on the damn thing I can also remember hating the loading times of the games from the old cassette tapes, you'd stick one in and press play on the cassette tape player and you could go off and go make a brew and a butty and Come back and the game still hadn't of loaded cause most games would take 15 to 20 minutes or more to load... And who can forget the annoying screeching sounds it would make while the games were loading? like it was running a dial up modem... oh the nostalgia of it all lol 😂 But HEY... if it weren't for Clive Sinclair and his influences we may not of had the Computer's and consoles that we have today, so we can honestly thank Clive for his idea's for influencing others to make other Computer's and consoles and games. So Rest In Peace Sir Clive Sinclair -|- And Thank You. 😁👍
Begged my parents to get me a Spectrum in 1983 and to my surprise they bought it! Helped me to get where I am today. Will always be indebted and forever thankful to Sir Clive. Legend!
If it wasn't for my Dad buying the family a ZX80 (never had a Spectrum) when it came out, I probably wouldn't be sat here now working from home, creating SQL code for reporting student data from the college I work at....thank you Sir Clive...RIP Mr Sinclair
Really good video. I remember playing with my zx81 and later the spectrum like it was yesterday; time flies. RIP Sir Clive and thanks for the great childhood memories.
Great tribute. I learnt to program on the Speccy - it really was a wonderful machine for its time, and for that alone Sir Clive Sinclair earns his place in the computer firmament.
Lovely tribute . Dominik Diamond's tribute is great too . I had no idea he had died . I thought the BBC would make a bigger deal out of it considering his giant status in U.K entertainment industry. R.I.P grumpy , brilliant genius .
Growing up with a C64, the Sinclair was nothing but a poor cheap machine in our childish minds. When you think about it, his impact was huge as you described at around 4:45 We need more "crazy" people like him to shake the industry.
We all have smart watches , pocket TVs and portable computers and electric scooters are all over the place now , legendary visionary man. Sadly missed, “ jet set fucking Willy” love that scene from the drama
Speccy days were great. I started out with a 16k dead flesh model, dad upgraded it to 48k and re-shelled it in a full size box, complete with switched keys. Had it for years until dads head was turned by an American model.
As an American, I’ve only recently begun to learn about Sir Clive’s enormous contribution to modern technology. He was one in a trillion and will be missed.
I was a VIC-20, Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 kid but I had the deepest respect for Sinclair home computers and was quite envious of some of the games they had. RIP Clive, you did good.
Why someone would downvote this video is beyond me. Clive Sinclair is a great British figure whilst Kim Justice has brought some fantastic, well researched, documentaries. Thanks for your work, both Clive and his team for giving us something great when we were children, and Kim for the great flashbacks and insights.
Great video ! I was mostly an Amstrad guy because in France it was much more popular than the ZX Spectrum but still, the face of gaming wouldn’t be the same without him.
You where in Cambridge, I live 20 mins away from Cambridge Kim. If only I had known you where there I coud have come out and met you. Cambrige is where Stephen Hawking studied in his younger days. I always feel like I am walking in Stephens foot steps when I am in Cambridge. Really fun tribute Kim. Next time your in Cambridge let us know and I will come am meet the famous Kim Justice. So that was you driving the C5 around Cambridge streets last weekend. Lol
like others have said if it wasn't for sir clive sinclair i very much doubt i would have been able to afford a home computer, i remember like it was yesterday around 1986 or 87 my single mum wanted to buy me a nintendo for my birthday and being mortified at the cost of a single game being 40 quid, and opting for a spectrum instead cost her 120 quid and i had around 100 games with it, and that was the start my love affair with video gaming, so while he might not have wanted the speccy to be used for this purpose i think a lot of kids of the 80's owe him a beer for helping to bring a lot of happiness in there lives, Rest in peace
Thanks for paying tribute to this legend. His Spectrum Zx has achieved cult status forever from when I was a kid: I already had a C64 and couldn't afford it, therefore I only could dream about owning games exclusive to the system such as the Ultimate Play the Game masterpieces.
Getting into computing quite late, Sir Clive's achievements largely passed me by, so I have no personal appreciate for him. Of course I was, and remain, aware of his profile and products, but this video has helped me to round that out a bit. I like how you went a bit 'football' with the "John Logie Bairds" bit, too.
While I was never a fan of the Speccy, the contributions that Clive Sinclair made to the micro in Britain in the 1980`s cannot be understated and did help an entire generation of kids get into computing and programming and also video games. Who could have imagined at that time how big that industry would become.
The Speccy was a sub-standard machine in technical terms, but the fact that anyone could get one was a game changer. It wasn't even meant for games (hence that annoying text character based screen), but people can work wonders with very little.
It's no surprise that the Soviets took to the Speccy. It was affordable by practically all, and provided a base for all people to learn and understand programming, an important skill in the coming decades. Well, for those, I guess in the USSR who could afford it. I know people were a lot poorer over there.
The typical British person wasn't exactly flush with cash either; many of whom were faced with either losing their job or not knowing if they'd have a job to go to when they left school. The Speccy was the right product at the right time, as it got computers into the hands of millions of Brits who would have otherwise missed out; many of whom ended up embarking on successful careers that would have otherwise been impossible. I won't hear a bad word said about the Speccy, as it did a lot for Britain.
@@OzRetrocomp I knew many families on Northern council estates who got the speccy for their kids. So yes it was affordable but there was tonnes of piracy, school playgrounds in the 80s were like black markets !
@@OzRetrocomp Who's saying anything bad? I'm praising my little Speccy for the influence it had on my life and many others who couldn't afford anything else. :)
Thank u sir Clive for the spectrum, it brought joy and happiness to a young man's life ,and made a life long impression on me RIP 🙏..great tribute kim..oh yeah jet set willy 💙❤
