in 1974 clarke was awarded the winston churchill memorial travelling fellowship to study medieval and contemporary stained glass in italy, france and west germany. that same year he received a commission for a suite of 20 windows for the church of st lawrence, longridge, considered to be his first mature work, and in 1975 was awarded the churchill extension fellowship to study art in architecture in the united states. later in 1975 clarke moved to birchover, derbyshire, renting a vicarage as home and studio from the local church authorities – he later designed and gifted a suite of windows to the parish church, st michael and all angels. a travelling exhibition of secular, autonomous stained glass panels inspired in part by oriental landscape painting, "glass art one", was shown at venues in derbyshire and lancashire, including derby cathedral and manchester cathedral. a major commission from the university of nottingham to produce 45 paintings, vestments, and a series of stained glass windows for a multi-faith chapel in the queen's medical centre followed, the process of which was filmed by the bbc as material for a documentary. the research from the two churchill trust fellowships led to the arts council of great britain-funded exhibition of stained glass "glass/light", co-curated by clarke, british war artist john piper and art historian martin harrison, with the collaboration of marc chagall, and produced the book "architectural stained glass". "glass/light", part of the festival of the city of london, was the most extensive exhibition of stained glass of the 20th century. in 1978, clarke controversially appeared on the cover of the journal "architectural review" with a work titled "velarde is not mocked", executed in acrylic on asbestos panel and chrome, with pencil scrawled over architectural plans of the church of st gabriel's, blackburn. clarke had been commissioned to design and fabricate two windows for the notable 1930s art deco church by f. x velarde, which was to be restored, and the windows were designed to complement and respond to the architecture, making reference to the elements of the original design. the building was modernised by the restoring architect - broadly considered to have been 'mutilated', the interior and exterior elements were unsympathetically altered. clarke's public attack on the treatment of the building marked the end of his working in the church. in 1979 he undertook a polemical lecture tour of british universities on the subject of art and architecture, and was the subject of an hour-long bbc omnibus documentary, "brian clarke: the story so far", which followed a year in his life. seen by millions of viewers, at a time when the uk had only 3 television channels, the programme received multiple complaints and propelled him into the public eye. later in 1979, clarke became a presenter on the bbc2 arts programme "mainstream", and the bbc radio 4 programme kaleidescope, conducting interviews with figures including brassaï, andy warhol, and elisabeth lutyens, and giving sheffield band the human league, who he had been an early supporter of, their first television appearance.