[1][2] He was the eldest of three children of Thomas Clarke, who had fought in the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War, and Elizabeth.

[7] He was captured by the Germans, and eventually taken to Stalag Luft III: he arrived at the prisoner of war camp weeks before The Great Escape of 24/25 March 1944.

[1] Clarke says he acted as a watcher to those digging the tunnels (warning them of any nearing guards) and as a forger (creating papers for the escapees)however this would have been unlikely as he was new to the camp for less then a month .

[1][5][6] In later life, he helped build a replica of Hut 104 (the start of The Great Escape tunnel) at Stalag Luft III, and would return each anniversary to Poland to retrace the steps he took on the "Long March".

[5] On 1 January 1947, Clarke transferred to the equipment branch as a flying officer with seniority on that rank from 1 March 1945.

[6] After retiring from the RAF, Clarke moved into business, including working as a director of the department store Debenhams.

[6] He was a leading figure in the campaign for a memorial to Bomber Command: one was eventually erected in 2012 in London's Green Park.

[16] In the 2007 New Year Honours, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "For services to the Royal Air Forces Ex-Prisoners of War Association".