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Sinclair Research

The Cambridge company that sold Britain its first computer under £100, then lost the business to Amstrad — while the machines it put in bedrooms ended up as Microsoft, EA and Rockstar

Acquired — Sinclair is three different things with three different fates, and this entry keeps them apart. Sinclair Radionics (1961) was the legal entity, which the state-owned National Enterprise Board took control of in the mid-1970s. Science of Cambridge — renamed Sinclair Research in 1980 — was the company that built the computers. And the Sinclair computer business and brand were sold to Amstrad for £5m in April 1986, which is why this entry is filed as acquired rather than defunct: the brand did not die, it changed hands. Amstrad itself was bought by BSkyB in 2007 and the Amstrad name was retired, but the Spectrum name is still licensed for new hardware.

Sinclair Research was the Cambridge company behind the ZX80, the ZX81 and the ZX Spectrum — the machines that put a computer in a British bedroom for the price of a hi-fi. It began in 1961 as Sinclair Radionics, making pocket calculators and miniature radios, and was reborn in 1977 as Science of Cambridge after the state-owned National Enterprise Board took control of the original firm.

The ZX80 (February 1980) was the first computer sold in Britain for under £100 [1]. The ZX81 (March 1981) sold in very large numbers for £69.95. The ZX Spectrum (April 1982) came in two models — £125 for 16KB and £175 for 48KB — and became the machine a generation of British programmers learned on [2]. Its designer, Rick Dickinson, expected to sell a thousand machines a month and instead sold around two hundred thousand a month, running into supply problems [2].

The company's fall was as steep as its rise. The C5 electric trike, launched in January 1985, failed to find a market, and Sinclair Vehicles was in receivership by October 1985 [10][8]. In April 1986 Amstrad paid £5m for the Sinclair computer business and brand — money that went to creditors owed £7m, while Sinclair Research had been losing about £1m a month [1]. Clive Sinclair kept control of what remained of the company.

The more consequential story is who the Spectrum's users became. The Stamper brothers, who founded Rare, and Dave Perry, who founded Shiny Entertainment, both started on Sinclair machines [2]. Rare was bought by Microsoft in 2002 for $375m in cash [3]; the Darling brothers' Codemasters was bought by Electronic Arts in a $1.2bn deal announced in December 2020 and completed in 2021 [6][7]; and DMA Design in Dundee, where Timex assembled Sinclair machines, became Rockstar North. Acorn — the rival that beat Sinclair in the schools market — spun out ARM, the chip design now in most of the world's smartphones.

Timeline

  1. 1961 — Sinclair Radionics is founded: Clive Sinclair sets up in Cambridge making electronic instruments and, later, pocket calculators and miniature radios. (Cambridge)
  2. 1972 — The Executive calculator: Sinclair's slimline pocket calculator establishes the company's method: make the category smaller and cheaper than anyone thinks possible. (Cambridge)
  3. Mid-1970s — The state takes control: The National Enterprise Board takes control of Sinclair Radionics; Clive Sinclair starts again with a new company. (London)
  4. 1977 — Science of Cambridge: The successor firm is set up in Cambridge; it is renamed Sinclair Research in 1980. (Cambridge)
  5. Feb 1980 — The ZX80: The first computer sold in Britain for under £100, sold partly as a kit, and the machine that created the British home-computer market. (Cambridge)
  6. Mar 1981 — The ZX81: At £69.95 it is cheaper still, and Timex in Dundee begins manufacturing Sinclair machines under licence. (Cambridge)
  7. 23 Apr 1982 — The ZX Spectrum: Two models, £125 for 16KB and £175 for 48KB, with Rick Dickinson's rubber-keyed case. Sinclair expected 1,000 a month and sold roughly 200,000 a month. (Cambridge)
  8. 1983 — The knighthood: Clive Sinclair is knighted for services to British industry. (London)
  9. 10 Jan 1985 — The C5: The battery-assisted tricycle launches to poor reviews and public ridicule; it is the company's most famous failure. (London)
  10. 15 Oct 1985 — Sinclair Vehicles in receivership: Hoover had stopped C5 production in August and the company was renamed TPD in September; receivership follows in October and liquidation in November. (London)
  11. 7 Apr 1986 — Amstrad buys the computer business: Amstrad pays £5m for the Sinclair computer business and brand. The money goes to creditors owed £7m; Sinclair Research has been losing around £1m a month. (London)
  12. Dec 1990 — The last Spectrum: Production of the Spectrum +3 ceases. The range had been continued by Amstrad after the sale. (London)
  13. 31 Jul 2007 — BSkyB buys Amstrad: BSkyB pays about £125m for Amstrad, the second owner of the Sinclair computer brand; the Amstrad name is later retired. (London)
  14. 16 Sep 2021 — Clive Sinclair dies: The inventor dies aged 81. He had kept inventing — the A-bike folding bicycle was the late modest hit. (London)

Quick facts

Founded
1961, Cambridge, as Sinclair Radionics; re-formed as Science of Cambridge in 1977, renamed Sinclair Research in 1980
Founder
Sir Clive Sinclair (30 July 1940 – 16 September 2021)
First computer under £100
ZX80, February 1980
Best-selling machine
ZX Spectrum, April 1982 — £125 for 16KB, £175 for 48KB
Manufactured by
Timex, in Dundee, under licence
The failure
the C5 electric trike, launched 10 January 1985
Sold to
Amstrad, £5m, April 1986
Second owner
BSkyB bought Amstrad for about £125m in July 2007 and retired the name
Where it is now
the Spectrum name survives through licensed retro hardware; the ZX81 made in Dundee is a museum object

Lineage — where the name went

Sinclair's ownership line is short and unusually clean, which is why it is worth drawing. Radionics, the 1961 company, is a separate branch that ends when the state takes it. The computer business runs from Clive's second start through Science of Cambridge and Sinclair Research, and then passes out of his hands entirely — to Amstrad in 1986, and to BSkyB in 2007. Note what is being sold at each step: in 1986 it is the brand and the computer business, not the man or the company, which is why the Spectrum outlived Sinclair's ownership of it.

  1. 1961 — Sir Clive Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics (the first company, making instruments and calculators)
  2. 1976 — National Enterprise Board acquired Sinclair Radionics (the state took control in the mid-1970s)
  3. 1977 — Sir Clive Sinclair founded Science of Cambridge (he started again with a new company)
  4. 1980 — Science of Cambridge rebranded as Sinclair Research (Science of Cambridge became Sinclair Research)
  5. 1980 — Sinclair Research created ZX80 (the first British computer under £100)
  6. 1981 — Sinclair Research created ZX81 (sold for £69.95)
  7. 1982 — Sinclair Research created ZX Spectrum (two models, £125 and £175)
  8. 1981 — Sinclair Research licensed the brand to Timex (manufacture in Dundee)
  9. 1983 — Sinclair Research created Sinclair Vehicles (a separate company for the electric vehicle)
  10. 1985 — Sinclair Vehicles created Sinclair C5 (launched to public ridicule)
  11. 1986 — Sinclair Research sold ZX Spectrum (the computer business and the brand, to Amstrad, for £5m)
  12. 1986 — Amstrad acquired ZX Spectrum (Amstrad continued the Spectrum line until 1990)
  13. 2007 — Amstrad acquired by BSkyB (about £125m; the Amstrad name was later retired)

Entities in this tree: Sir Clive Sinclair (person, 1940); Sinclair Radionics (company); National Enterprise Board (organization); Science of Cambridge (company); Sinclair Research (company); ZX80 (product); ZX81 (product); ZX Spectrum (product); Sinclair Vehicles (company); Sinclair C5 (product); Timex (company); Amstrad (company); BSkyB (company)

Sources

  1. 1986: Sinclair sells computer business — BBC On This Day, 7 April 1986 — BBC News (2026-10-10) ↩
  2. How the Spectrum began a revolution — BBC News (2026-10-10) ↩
  3. Microsoft bullish over games deal — Rare acquired for $375m — BBC News (2026-10-10) ↩
  4. BSkyB agrees £125m Amstrad deal — BBC News (2026-10-10)
  5. Sir Clive Sinclair: Computing pioneer dies aged 81 — BBC News (2026-10-10)
  6. Electronic Arts outbids Take-Two with $1.2 billion deal for Codemasters — Reuters (2026-10-10) ↩
  7. EA completes $1.2bn Codemasters acquisition — GamesIndustry.biz (2026-10-10) ↩
  8. Sinclair Vehicles — receivership announced 15 October 1985 — Wikipedia (2026-10-10) ↩
  9. Sinclair Vehicles, 15 October 1985 — The New York Times (2026-10-10)
  10. 10 January 1985: Safety concerns over electronic trike — BBC On This Day (2026-10-10) ↩
  11. ZX81 — produced by Sinclair Research, manufactured in Dundee by Timex — Wikipedia (2026-10-10)
  12. Sinclair ZX81 Issue One — Centre for Computing History (2026-10-10)
  13. ZX Spectrum — Spectrum +3 production ceased December 1990 — Wikipedia (2026-10-10)
  14. Sugar company to be sold to BSkyB — RTÉ (2026-10-10)

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