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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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Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture- The Cash-Landrum UFO Contamination
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Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think- Nick Pope - Useful Idiot of the Far Right
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Tag Archives: unidentified flying objects
Why Britain’s MoD closed the UFO files: exclusive new evidence
Newly-released British intelligence files reveal the hidden agenda behind the MoD’s decision to close down their 50 year investigation of UFOs. The last three UFO files produced by the UK’s defence intelligence branch DI55 were originally with-held from the records earmarked … Continue reading →
Jet in ‘airmiss’ with UFO near Heathrow
News of the latest in a series of cases where aircrew have seen unidentified objects on collision course with passenger jets has emerged in The Sunday Telegraph. In 2011 I published the result of Freedom of Information Act request that … Continue reading →
The End of the UFO Files
The tenth and final collection of British UFO files have been released by The National Archives. From 2008 more than four million visitors from 160 countries have visited the project website to download files that would normally have been hidden … Continue reading →
Air Traffic Control, UFOs and the FOIA
Each month Air Traffic controllers receive reports of flying objects ‘that don’t conform to normal flight patterns’ the head of Britain’s National Air Traffic Control Services admitted on BBC Radio 4. Towards the end of a general interview on the … Continue reading →