Editing Clive Sinclair (section)

==Early life, family and education==
Sinclair's father and grandfather were engineers; both had been apprentices at the shipbuilders [[Vickers]]. His grandfather George Sinclair was a [[naval architect]] who got the ''[[Paravane (weapon)|paravane]]'', a [[mine sweeping]] device, to work. George Sinclair's son, George William "Bill" Sinclair, wanted to take religious orders or become a journalist. His father suggested he train as an engineer first; Bill became a mechanical engineer and remained in the field. At the outbreak of [[World War II]] in 1939, he was running his own machine tools business in London, and later worked for the [[Ministry of Supply]].<ref name="para1">{{harvnb|Dale|1985|page=1}}</ref>

Clive Sinclair was born to George Sinclair and Thora Edith Ella Marles on 30 July 1940, in [[Ealing]], [[Middlesex]].<ref name="mensa.org">{{cite web |title=Biography of Sir Clive Sinclair . . . |url=http://www.mensa.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?ap=1&id=279 |website=British Mensa |access-date=11 November 2023 |archive-date=2 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202182911/http://www.mensa.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?ap=1&id=279 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Archives" >{{Cite interview|date=28 February 2019|title=Interview with Sir Clive Sinclair|first=Clive|last=Sinclair|interviewer=Richard Sharpe|url=https://archivesit.org.uk/interviews/sir-clive-sinclair/|url-status=live|location=London|website=Archives IT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512013812/https://archivesit.org.uk/interviews/sir-clive-sinclair/ |archive-date=12 May 2021}}</ref><ref name="BCS" >{{Cite web|date=12 March 2020|title=Sir Clive Sinclair: innovator extraordinaire|url=https://www.bcs.org/articles-opinion-and-research/sir-clive-sinclair-innovator-extraordinaire/|website=BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT}}</ref> He and his mother left London for safety to stay with an aunt in [[Devon]], where they eventually moved to [[Teignmouth]]. A telegram arrived shortly afterwards, bringing the news that their home in Ealing had been bombed. Sinclair's father found a house in [[Bracknell]] in Berkshire. His brother Iain was born in 1943 and his sister Fiona in 1947.<ref name="para1" />

Sinclair attended [[Boxgrove Preparatory School]], excelling in mathematics. Sinclair had little interest in sports and found himself out of place at school.<ref name="holidays">{{harvnb|Dale|1985|page=2}}</ref> By the time he was ten, his father had financial problems. He had branched out from machine tools and planned to import miniature tractors from the U.S.; he had to give up the business.<ref name="holidays" /> Because of his father's problems, Sinclair had to move school several times. After a time at [[Reading School]], Sinclair took his [[General Certificate of Education|O-levels]] at [[Highgate School]] in London in 1955, and his [[A-levels]] and [[Scholarship level|S-levels]] in physics, pure maths, and applied maths at [[St. George's College, Weybridge]].<ref name="educationwork">{{harvnb|Dale|1985|page=3}}</ref><ref name=mensabio/>

During his early years, Sinclair earned money mowing lawns and washing up in a café, earning 6d (2½p) more than the permanent staff. Later he went for holiday jobs at electronic companies. At Solartron he inquired about the possibility of electrically propelled personal vehicles. Sinclair applied for a holiday job at [[Mullard]] and took one of his circuit designs; he was rejected for precociousness.<ref name="educationwork"/> While still at school he wrote his first article for ''Practical Wireless''.<ref name="educationwork" />

After he left school at the age of 18, he sold miniature electronic kits by [[mail order]] to the hobby market.<ref name="the times obit" /><ref>{{harvnb|Dale|1985|page=4}}</ref>