First interested in UFOlogy after seeing Spielberg’s movie CE3K, David joined BUFORA in 1980 and was accredited as an investigator in 1985.

A BUFORA council member from 1988-1991 and press officer in 197-98, he was founder member of the IUN (Independent UFO Network, 1987-1994), which published UFO Brigantia, and was instrumental in setting up Project Pennine (a UK version of Project Hessdalen), contributing to Paul Devereux’s research which appeared in Earthlights Revelation (London, 1989).

A founder member of UFOIN (UFO Investigators Network) since 1998, he has been on the board for the European Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies (1999-2003).

David is a journalist, author of seven books and a lecturer at Sheffield University (he’s got a Ph.D. taken at Sheffield’s Centre for English Cultural Tradition and teaches the only undergraduate module available at an English university where students can study aspects of supernatural belief and tradition at degree level).

He worked for weekly, evening and morning newspapers in Yorkshire before becoming a freelance journalist. Today he is regular contributor to BBC History Magazine and The Fortean Times where he writes a monthly column. He is also a frequent contributor to a number of other magazines dealing with strange phenomena, ghosts, UFOs and folklore.

Alongside his journalism he has acted as researcher and contributor to a range of radio and television productions dealing with folklore and unexplained phenomena including a series, `Britain’s X-Files, for BBC Radio 4 in 2003-4 and a BBC2 Timewatch documentary, Britain’s X-Files (January 2004).

His books include: Phantoms of the Sky: UFOs, a Modern Myth? (with Andy Roberts, 1990); Supernatural Peak District (1999); The UFOs that Never Were (with Jenny Randles and Andy Roberts, 2000); Out of the Shadows: UFOs, The Establishment and the Official Cover up (with Andy Roberts, 2002).

E-mail: cd292@crazydiamonds.fsnet.co.uk or D.Clarke@sheffield.ac.uk