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Tag Archives: Lord Beaverbrook

100 years of Fake News: The German Corpse Factory

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Dr David Clarke

False stories that masquerade as real news are not a product of the modern age. But few realise the modern era of ‘Fake News‘ began one hundred years ago – during the carnage of the First World War. In the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Arthur Ponsonby, BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Berliner Lokalanzeiger, black and tans, Brigadier-General John Charteris, Cadaver, cannibalism, China, corpse factory, Daily Express, Daily Mail, David Lloyd George, Douglas Haig, Fake News, Falsehood in Wartime, First World War, Germany, glycerine, Ivor Montague, Joachim Neander, John Buchan, Kadaver factory, Karl Rosner, lies, Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Northcliffe, Lord Robert Cecil, Major Hugh Pollard, MI7, New York Times, North China Herald, Professor Piers Robinson, propaganda, Punch, Randal Marlin, rumours, Sir Austen Chamberlain, The 39 Steps, The Holocaust, The National Archives, The Times, University of Sheffield | 10 Comments
  • Welcome to my website

    David Clarke is Associate Professor in the Department of Media Arts and Communication at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He teaches media law and his research specialism is contemporary legend. Previously he worked as a journalist for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. His PhD in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. From 2008-13 he acted as consultant and curator of the MoD UFO files project with The National Archives. His books include The Angel of Mons (2004) and How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth (2015). In 2018 he co-founded the Centre for Contemporary Legend at Sheffield Hallam University. This blog covers his twin research interests in journalism and folklore. The views expressed in the contents are entirely his own.

  • What is Folklore?

    Once upon a time… ‘Folklore’ meant ancient ballads or fairy tales or the peculiar superstitions and customs of ‘primitive’ peoples. Today folklore is a tool for studying custom and belief, urban legends, modern myth and even rumours spread via the internet. Much folklore can be found online and buried in the narrative content of media and social networking - from legends and reports of ghosts, UFOs and 'big cats' to language, customs and traditions. The study of folklore is centrally and crucially important 'in our attempts to understand our own behaviour and that of our fellow human beings' according to one scholarly definition. Folklore is a vital and ongoing area of study and one of the few academic disciplines that engage, in a fundamental way, with everyday life.
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