David William Clarke (born 1967) is an investigative journalist, reader and lecturer at

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

, England. He has a lifelong interest in

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, Fortean phenomena and extraordinary personal experiences. He is frequently consulted by the national and international media on contemporary legend and UFOs and acted as curator for

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

UFO project from 2008 to 2013.

Education

Clarke graduated with a BA (Hons) from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

in 1990 in Archaeology, Prehistory and Medieval History. In 1998, He received a PhD in English Cultural Tradition and Folklore from the University of Sheffield. He obtained the National Certificate qualification in Newspaper Journalism from the

National Council for the Training of Journalists The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) was founded in 1951 as organisation to oversee the training of journalists for the newspaper industry in the United Kingdom and is now playing a role in the wider media. It is a self-ap ...

(NCTJ) in 1992 and is a member of the Association of Journalism Educators (AJE) and a fellow of the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

(FHEA).Sheffield Hallam University Staff Profile
/ref>

Career

From 1991 Clarke worked as a news reporter and news editor for the ''Rotherham Advertiser'', ''

Sheffield Star ''The Star'', often known as the ''Sheffield Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid in 1993. ''The Sta ...

'' and ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

''. From 2000 to 2004 he worked as a Press Officer in the civil service. In 2005 he joined the Department of Media, Arts and Communication at

, becoming course leader for Journalism in 2010 and Reader/Principal Lecturer in 2015. In 2020 he was promoted to Associate Professor, He continues his research role in the Sheffield Creative Industries Institute (SCII) at Sheffield Hallam University. He teaches Media Law and Regulation on the university's undergraduate and postgraduate journalism courses. He also contributes to modules on the history of journalism, investigative reporting and court reporting and supervises PhD students.

Academic Research

Clarke's research is focused upon his joint interests in folklore and journalism. In 2018 Clarke, alongside his colleagues Dr Diane Rodgers and Andrew Robinson, launched the Centre for Contemporary Legend research (CCL) at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2024 the UKRI Arts & Humanities Research Council awarded Clarke 'Catalyst' funding for a 2-year project that will create a National Folklore Survey for England. Clarke leads the project alongside a team of academic folklorists including Dr Diane A. Rodgers ( SHU); Professor Owen Davies and Dr Ceri Houlbrook (

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a Universities in the United Kingdom, university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield ...

); and US sociology professor Christopher Bader, of

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California, United States. Encompassing eleven colleges, the university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The school maintains its foundi ...

. The survey updates the last national folklore survey for England that was launched in 1964 at Sheffield University's Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language (CECTAL), where Clarke completed his PhD. The launch of the project was announced by The Observer newspaper on 20 October 2024.

Journalism and Publications

Since the 1990s much of Clarke's journalism has concentrated on investigations of British government policy on UFOs/UAPs, working from documents opened at the UK

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. From 1998 he used the UK's

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in t ...

(FOIA) to gain access to closed UFO files held by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

(MoD). This resulted in the release of the file on the famous Rendlesham Forest UFO incident in Suffolk, the MoD's report by the Flying Saucer Working Party used to brief

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

and, in 2006, the DIS report ''UAPs in the UK Air Defence Region'' (also known as the Condign report). Between 2008 and 2013 Clarke acted as the media consultant and spokesperson for the Open Government project that oversaw the transfer of 210 public records on UFOs from the Ministry of Defence to The National Archives.The National Archives UFO Files
/ref> The project resulted in the public release of 60,000 pages of reports, correspondence and policy material on UFO-related issues in ten tranches. This material is available via the project website. At the completion of the project in 2018 Dr Clarke presented a public lecture at The National Archives; this is available as a podcast from the TNA website. In 2022 Clarke was instrumental in both discovering and publishing the only extant original photograph of the infamous Calvine UFO sighting, along with the only contemporary witness account of the event provided by former RAF press officer Craig Lindsay. Clarke's work on the MoD's UFO files and other archival material on unusual phenomena have been published in a series of books including ''Out of the Shadows: UFOs, the Establishment and the official cover-up'' (with Andy Roberts, 2002); ''Flying Saucerers: a social history of UFOlogy'' (with Andy Roberts, 2006); '' The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings'' (2009, second edition 2012); ''How UFOs Conquered the World: The history of a modern myth'' (2015); and ''UFO Drawings from The National Archives'' (2017). His books on folklore, Fortean studies and contemporary legend include ''Twilight of the Celtic Gods'' (with Andy Roberts, 1996); ''The Angel of Mons'' (2004); and ''Britain’s X-traordinary Files'' (2014).

Media work

Clarke has made numerous media appearances to discuss UFO-related material. Clarke's media work has included the two-part series ''Britain’s X-Files'' for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

and a BBC Timewatch programme on Britain's UFO files shown in 2004. He also appeared with former British Defence Minister

Michael Portillo Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo ( ; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as ''Great British Railway Jou ...

on ''Portillo’s State Secrets'' (2015) and Channel 5's ''Portillo's Hidden History of Britain'' (2018). His freelance journalism has appeared in a variety of UK and international newspapers, magazines and journals including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''Folklore'', ''Contemporary Legend'', and ''

BBC History ''BBC History'' is a British magazine devoted to both British and world history, and aimed at readers of all levels of knowledge and interest. There are thirteen issues a year, one each month and a Christmas special. The magazine is published, ...

''. He also regularly contribute features based on his research into anomalous phenomena and folklore to both The ''

Fortean Times ''Fortean Times'' is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing (from 1991 to 2001), I Feel Good Publishing (from 2001 to 2005), Dennis Publishing (from ...

'' and the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''.

Personal life

He is married to Carolyn Waudby, a poet and journalist.Star Interview: Sheffield expert with the key to Britain’s X-Files puts UFOs in the picture
Sheffield Star 26 September 2017

Selected bibliography

* ''Twilight of the Celtic Gods: Exploration of Britain's Hidden Pagan Traditions''. Blandford. * ''Out Of The Shadows: UFOs, the Establishment and the Official Cover Up''. Piatkus. . * ''The Angel of Mons: Phantom Soldiers and Ghostly Guardians''. John Wiley. * ''The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-life Sightings''. Bloomsbury. * ''Britain's X-Traordinary Files''. Bloomsbury. . * ''How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth''. Aurum Press. * ''UFO Drawings From The National Archives''.

References

External links

Sheffield Hallam staff profile

Dr David Clarke's personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, David 1967 births Academics of Sheffield Hallam University Alumni of the University of Sheffield British journalists English folklorists UFO writers Living people Fellows of the Higher Education Academy Ufologists