Sinclair Research

Sinclair Research Ltd has its earliest roots in a shelf corporation named Ablesdeal Ltd, acquired by Sir Clive Sinclair in September 1973 to allow him to continue operating commercially should his previous company, Sinclair Radionics, fail. After the UK government became involved in the operations of Sinclair Radionics, this shelf company was renamed and reactivated, going through several iterations and names between 1975 and 1978; the company launched their first product, a wrist calculator, during this time.

It was in 1978 that the company first became involved in home computing. Chris Curry, whose working relationship with Sir Clive Sinclair dated back to Sinclair Radionics, was shown a microcomputer made using parts from a Sinclair calculator by Ian Williamson of Cambridge Consultants Ltd, and was impressed enough to encourage Sir Clive Sinclair to adopt it into his product line. The end result of this was the MK14, released to market in the UK in 1977. The company, at this point named Science of Cambridge Ltd, was subsquently renamed Sinclair Computers Ltd, and began to focus on this market. (Its final name, Sinclair Research Ltd, would be adopted in 1981.)

Further computers, and much greater commercial success, followed. The ZX80, based on the 8-bit Zilog Z80 processor, was released in February 1980, and followed by the ZX81 in March 1981. It was the company's next machine, the ZX Spectrum, that remains their most famous achievement - released in April 1982, it sold five million units and is credited with launching the IT and gaming industries in the UK. For his services to technology in the UK, Sir Clive Sinclair was given a knighthood in 1983.

In April 1986, amidst financial uncertainty following the relative failures of the TV80 (a pocket-sized CRT TV) and the Sinclair QL (a 32-bit computer), all trademarks and products of Sinclair Research Ltd were sold to Amstrad. By 1997, Sir Clive Sinclair was the only remaining registered employee of the company; he continues to operate it to this day, using it to market his inventions.