According to Wikipedia, “Sir Clive Marles Sinclair was an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known for being a pioneer in the computing industry, and also as the founder of several companies that developed consumer electronics in the 1970s and early 1980s”. He passed away recently, and I remembered that he is, surely, one of the people responsible foy my passion for technology.
When I was about 11 or 12, my parents gave me a Sinclair 1000, that had just been released. It was the cheapest home computer at the time. It was a simple machine, especially when compared with today’s personal computers. It featured the programming language Basic (which I didn’t pay much attention to) and several games, like pong and frog (that I played incessantly).
A couple of years later, I upgraded to the world famous ZX Spectrum. It featured hundreds, if not thousands, of games you would buy in vulgar cassettes. I’ll never forget the ritual of Load “” followed by the characterictic scratching noise of the game loading into memory. Speaking of memories, I’ll also never forget the countless hours I spent after school at my grandparents’ home, playing those games with my close friend Luís. Manic Miner and Formula One come to mind immediately. Oh, and I also learned Basic along the way, and programmed a couple of my own games.
I mention these two computers because, of course, Clive Sinclair was their inventor. Much has happened since, but these two machines I got a chance to interact with over 30 years ago helped shape who I am today.
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