Dire Straits

They took the name Dire Straits because it represented their financial condition in the early days. They weren't destitute for long. After playing their first gigs in June 1977, they made a demo a month later that got played on the BBC, and that December they landed a record deal.

In 2001, British scientists named a dinosaur they discovered after Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler. They named the dinosaur, which was discovered in Madagascar, "Masiakasaurus Knopfleri" as a tribute.

Mark Knopfler was a journalist and teacher before joining the band. One of his first assignments as a cub reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post was to write Jimi Hendrix' obituary.