Was MK a known musician at the time? Ironically I was introduced to Dire Straits at Leeds Uni through a housemate in Chapeltown, around 1983
Local venues in Leeds - embryonic period of development. He either lived in Headingley or played in "The Original Oak" in Headingley - Friday nights, or both. Can't remember, but I vaguely remember quite a few discussions about the Shadows ( & Cliff Richard) in the chippy lineup.
"In 1968, after studying journalism for a year at
Harlow College,
[18][20] Knopfler was hired as a
junior reporter in
Leeds for the
Yorkshire Evening Post.
[21] During this time, he made the acquaintance of local furniture restorer, country blues enthusiast and part-time performer
Steve Phillips, one year his senior, from whose record collection and guitar style Knopfler acquired a good knowledge of early blues artists and their styles; the two subsequently formed a duo called "The Duolian String Pickers", which performed in local folk and acoustic blues venues.
[22] Two years later, he decided to further his education, and later graduated with a degree in English at the
University of Leeds.
[23] In April 1970, while living in Leeds, Knopfler recorded a demo disk of an original song he had written, "Summer's Coming My Way". The recording included Knopfler (guitar and vocals), Steve Phillips (second guitar), Dave Johnson (bass), and Paul Granger (percussion). Johnson, Granger, and vocalist Mick Dewhirst played with Knopfler in a band called Silverheels; Phillips was later to rejoin Knopfler in the short lived side exercise from Dire Straits,
The Notting Hillbillies."
extract from...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Knopfler#Early_life_(1949–1976)