LONDON -- Britain's two top computer kingpins swapped their brains for brawn in a Cambridge pub when a shouting match between them escalated into a barroom brawl.
Sir Clive Sinclair, whose company makes the best-selling Spectrum computer, apologized Monday for his behavior in the Friday night fracas, which began when he slapped his rival Chris Curry with a rolled-up newspaper.
Curry, a friend and former employee of Sinclair's, is now the head of Acorn computers, which manufactures the popular BBC Microcomputer.
The slugfest broke out at the Baron of Beef pub, where Sinclair confronted Curry about a newspaper ad for Acorn, in which the reliability of Spectrum products was questioned.
Sinclair, the 43-year-old inventor of the pocket calculator, said he called Curry 'scum' and whacked him with a rolled-up newspaper, but does not remember actually hitting him.
Curry said Sinclair slapped him several times about the head and face.
Curry, 38, said he fled to a nearby wine bar with Sinclair, local chairman of the high-IQ group MENSA, in hot pursuit.
'I was forced to retaliate with a right-hand blow,' Curry said.'
'He was extremely aggressive and rude to me and he was calling me names,' Curry said. 'I tried to placate him but it was no good,' he said.
