13 February: Dire Straits

On this date in 1978 Dire Straits began recording their debut album. 10 facts about Dire Straits and their music.

1. The band was initially known as the Café Racers.
2. The original line up was Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead Guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (Drums and percussion).
3. When the band first got together, Mark was working as an English teacher, David was a social worker Illsley was studying at Goldsmiths' College, and Withers was a session drummer who had already worked with Dave Edmunds and Gerry Rafferty.
4. Money for Nothing was inspired by a couple of workmen Mark Knopfler happened to overhear as they delivered boxes to an appliance store which had a wall of TVs playing MTV.
5. The opening line of Money for Nothing, “I want my MTV” was sung by Sting, who happened to be on holiday in Montserrat as Dire Straits were recording and agreed to help out. The refrain comes from the Police song Don’t Stand So Close to Me, so Sting has joint writing credits for Money for Nothing.
6. The music video for Money for Nothing was the first played on MTV Europe.
7. Brothers in Arms was inspired by the Falklands war. Knopfler released a new version of the track in 2007 to mark the 25th anniversary of the conflict.
8. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, Dire Straits have spent over 1,100 weeks on the UK albums chart, ranking fifth all-time. Brothers in Arms is the eighth-best-selling album in UK chart history. It was the first album on CD to sell a million copies.
9. There’s a Dinosaur named Masiakasaurus knopfleri after the Knopfler brothers. The scientists in Madagascar who found it used to listen to Dire Straits while they worked. The dinosaur measured about 5 to 6 feet in length and roamed the Earth approximately 65 million to 70 million years ago.
10. The band formed in 1977 and broke up for good in 1995, but they weren’t admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until 2018. Neither of the Knopfler brothers attended the ceremony.

Character birthdays

Xander Garrett hasn’t appeared in a published story yet. He’s the half brother of Sebastian Garrett and somewhat of a spoiled and entitled brat.

Sarah Fredericks is a historical character who died before the canon began. She married Stephen Ellis, who will make a brief appearance in the upcoming Combat Team series, and had two children with him, one of those children was Rosemary Ellis, aka Shadow.