Summary
Matthew Parris presents the biographical series in which his guests choose someone who has inspired their lives. Here, Sir Clive Sinclair nominates fellow inventor Thomas Edison. Edison invented sound recording, the electric light bulb and moving pictures, but also had his fair share of duds along the way. Sir Clive invented the first electronic calculator but also the ill-fated C5 electric car. Separated by a century, do the two men have anything in common? Joining the discussion is Edison's biographer Neil Baldwin.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | My name is Annie Matmanis and my name is Nick Grimshaw. How long have we known each other babe? |
| 0:05.0 | Probably 20 years now and in that time we've always worked in and around music right? |
| 0:10.0 | We have. So it kind of makes sense that we do a podcast better. It sounds |
| 0:13.9 | like he's been 20 years in the making. It's not a avatar for podcasts basically, but it is good. |
| 0:18.6 | So we put the world to rights with |
| 0:23.3 | your mate about over a pint. |
| 0:24.7 | Side-tracked with us, Annie and Nick, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:29.7 | Thank you for downloading this great lives podcast from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:34.0 | For more information and details of other podcasts just visit BBC.co. |
| 0:38.0 | UK slash radio 4. |
| 0:41.0 | The ZX 81 The-81, the Spectrum, the QL, listeners of a certain age and technological bent, may know what I'm talking about. |
| 0:50.0 | But if I add, the C-5, you're more likely to get it. My guess this week is one of |
| 0:56.0 | Britain's most celebrated inventors, Sir Clive Sinclair. The C5, a small electric car that turned more into a sort of bicycle, was one of his more epic failures, and |
| 1:07.6 | he's unlucky for that because it came after a string of successes for which he's not quite so well remembered as the C5. |
| 1:14.7 | He's arguably the man who invented the pocket calculator in 1972, the Sinclair Executive, |
| 1:20.9 | which sold for 79 pounds 85 about 800 pounds in today's money |
| 1:26.0 | Sir Clive welcome who was paying 800 pounds as it were for a pocket calculator |
| 1:31.0 | ah yes it's amazing to think of that, isn't it? |
| 1:34.0 | Well, it was really businessman. |
| 1:36.0 | It became a sort of little bit of a status symbol, I suppose, but it was a very handy tool and |
| 1:40.7 | so people, you know, without quite a bit of of money were prepared to pay the price. |
| 1:44.9 | Which of your various products would you say you're most proud of? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.