I didn't quite appreciate how much involvement the UK government had had in the Sinclair story - their prints are all over Acorn and the BBC Micro, but I didn't

I didn't quite appreciate how much involvement the UK government had had in the Sinclair story - their prints are all over Acorn and the BBC Micro, but I didn't know that the NEB (UK National Enterprise Board) had taken a stake in Sinclair and bailed them out as much as they did. For non-UK readers: the NEB was a UK agency that invested in companies the UK Gov considered useful or strategic. Part of the general Wilsonian agenda to forge the future in the "white heat of technology", as his phrase was back then. The original intent was to use the influence gained to direct their activity (all very socialist/central-planning in the 1960s, considerably more free-market later on). They funded Inmos and their Transputer, if anyone here remembers that. Ultimately they were wound up themselves and are now part of some UK healthcare(!) company, BTG plc. Also: no discussion of Sinclair is complete without talking about the C5. The British could forgive Sir Clive his abysmal quality control, love his inventiveness (see: "boffin" in British English), but the C5 was roundly mocked and crushed his business. Shame really, but not too surprising once you consider how British roads were, and the climate.