A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, whose band made one of the best-selling albums of all time, has explained on national radio how Bishop’s Stortford played a part in his success.

Guitarist and songwriter Mark Knopfler was the guest on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday (August 4), telling host Lauren Laverne all about a half-century in music, including his time in Dire Straits.

The band, formed in 1977, enjoyed huge success and saw 1985 studio album Brothers in Arms go on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide. It also spawned hit singles Money for Nothing and Walk of Life.

And Knopfler told listeners how his love of blues music grew even stronger thanks to his regular trips to a Stortford music venue – Rambling Jack’s at the former Railway Hotel – during his time studying journalism at Harlow College in the late 1960s.

Early Blues Influences

“I was already mad about the blues and I became a blues nut,” said Knopfler, who started out as a cub reporter on the Yorkshire Evening Post before deciding to complete an English degree at Leeds University.

“When I was at journalism college doing my one year’s training down in Harlow, Essex, I used to go to a blues club every week without fail. It was in Bishop’s Stortford, in a loft. I saw a lot of the blues bands.

“Also, when I was at the paper, I used to go to all the gigs at Leeds University and at the poly. A week would never go by when I wasn’t at a gig. I realised there was a whole world of acoustic blues music and country blues music that was before all that.

“I got to know this lovely guy in Leeds called Steve Phillips. He had a National steel guitar and was a proper blues singer. Steve had a record collection with a lot of the great country blues artists as well.”

Memories of Rambling Jack's

Those reminiscences from Knopfler, now 74, led to members of the Memories of Bishop’s Stortford group on Facebook recalling the era with fondness.

Commenter Dave Monk even remembered Knopfler returning to the town in the early 1970s to play with the band Brewers Droop.

He posted: “Did anyone catch Mark Knopfler on this week’s Desert Island Discs? As well as mentioning my former employer, Harlow College, where he studied journalism in the late 60s, he also name checked going to the blues club in Bishop’s Stortford - Rambling Jack’s, run by the late Steve Miller.

“Also his membership of pub rockers Brewers Droop got a mention, though not his gig playing at the blues club’s successor The Angel Underground (both at the Railway Hotel), which I witnessed in the 71-72 era.”

Knopfler's Musical Journey After Stortford

Knopfler took a job as an English lecturer at a college in Loughton before forming Dire Straits in 1977 with his brother David and John Illsley, who were all flatmates in Deptford.

Tony Claxton, also commenting in the Memories of Bishop’s Stortford Facebook group, said: “I went to the Brewers Droop gigs at the Angel Underground, my regular Sunday night of live music.

“In all honesty l can’t remember if it was him or the other guitarist who played, I think he played one of those gigs.

“l was working as an editorial assistant on Melody Maker but occasionally did ‘Caught in the Act’ reviews. l think l did one on Brewers Droop at the Angel. Happy days.”

Lasting Impact of the Blues

Knopfler talked about his time in Stortford when introducing his fourth disc, Mississippi Fred MacDowell’s Write Me a Few Lines.

He also chose tracks by the likes of Ray Charles, Dean Martin, The Shadows and Bob Dylan as well as selecting Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower as his book choice and a guitar as his luxury item. It is clear that the influence of blues music he experienced in Stortford continued to shape his musical journey, making him one of the most iconic musicians of our time.