Holly Vincent was only 19 when Mark was nearly 30

[Marijo58]

Yes me too because I surfed a lot to find a free version of this article but

Envoyé de mon Ultym 5.2 en utilisant Tapatalk

[Marijo58]

But couldn't find it. You are probably right that it certainly doesn't cost so much!! Tell me what they asked you Water of Love. Thanks.

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[Marijo58]

The Daily Mail article published March 1, 1997 is called "A Secret Wife and the Love Child That Still Haunts Mark Knopfler"

You can get free excerpt :

https://www.questia.com/article/1G1-110801209/a-secret-wife-and-the-love-child-that-still-haunts

Shorter preview also here :

https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-110801209.html

I suspect that both will ask money to access the article in full.

Thanks a lot ds1984!! 

[Masiakasaurus]

Does anyone know the story on that article from 97? It seems like a strange thing to write when someone is getting married, and maybe especially Mark since he is so private. It was an interesting read, but bad taste. I can imagine Mark not being too happy about it (if he knew anything about it).

[Marijo58]

I could only read the beginning of this article. Some people on this forum a while ago already discussed it!! I wasn't aware of what happened to MK with his first wife until I found out here  by having a look on it's thread on AMIT. Then I realized that it was top secret until MK got married with Kitty and during their honeymoon!!! So I came to the conclusion that someone who obviously had the info was really wanting badly to hurt him!!! But as I said I have an idea on the name of this person but without any proof. Better drop this subject, too tricky and private!!

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[WaterofLove]

Now I have read the full article at Questia. It wasn't too much worth reading after the cut-off point for non-paying members.
Quite interesting that Kathy supported him financially when he was in Leeds, because he lacked some O-levels to get a full student grant. Can someone explain what this O-level thing means? Does it mean that his grades weren't good enough or does it mean that he lacked some subjects to have a full diploma from high school?

Also surprising to read that he didn't have the self confidence to chase his guitar dream as a teenager and instead chose journalism. He seems quite confident from the early DS days so he must have developed a lot in those years.

It also says in the beginning that Kathy was his first girlfriend, but it seems that he had someone in the beginning of his teen years, which Down to the waterline is based on. Maybe they started dating very early and she actually is the one that inspired DTTW and not Sue Hercombe as earlier discussed? The article says that Kathy wanted a divorce for several years and that Mark tried to win her back, but in 1979 they got divorced. Maybe Holly was the reason he made the decision to give up his marriage?

It seems like the writer thinks R&J actually is about Kathy.

[Throttle]

I ascertained once again that it was a great piece of luck for him to meet with Kitty at long last.
Not because she is better than others, just because they are suited to each other in the best possible way.
Like a screw with a nut. 

[superval99]

I have the whole article and in my opinion there are a few things not quite right, so I wouldn't believe too much about what is written!  For example, it mentions that Mark has TWO older siblings, David and Ruth.  David is younger than Mark,  Ruth is the eldest. 

Regarding the O-Levels  (Ordinary Level GCE) - he passed in five subjects and went on to take A-Levels (Advanced Level GCE) in the sixth form and passed in two.  He eventually attained a 2.1 class degree at Leeds University - upper second class honour.  So the article confuses O-Level with A-Level.

I feel that this article was written in a very romantic fiction style and it fitted the article very well to assume that R&J was written about Kathy, which is probably unlikely.   

[Marijo58]

I ascertained once again that it was a great piece of luck for him to meet with Kitty at long last.
Not because she is better than others, just because they are suited to each other in the best possible way.
Like a screw with a nut. 

Absolutely Throttle!! Mark looked much more happy and healthy after he met Kitty!! You can see it on his face!! He became really more handsome when he gave up cigarettes because he wasn't any more so skinny and pale!! If you're comparing his tired face in 1992 when he was still on Tour with DS and his healthy rounder cheeks in 1995 when he made his introducing show at the BBC for his first solo album, you can really see the difference!!

[JF]

Just curious...  Do we know who he wrote about in Lady Writer? 
 

the Oldfiled book says something like :
- "Lady writer is about an author who was talking about his book on TV", and David says something like "it was too much obvious she was trying to sell his book, we could see it on his face"

on the recent french book, I found this info about Lady writer :
even if the writer is not directly named, it is very likely Marina Warner who wrote in 1976 Alone of all her s e x : the myth and the cult of virgin Mary.
in this song Mark is mostly talking about his love break up, and compares Warner's erudition to his wife's one, more limited

[WaterofLove]

Just curious...  Do we know who he wrote about in Lady Writer? 
 

the Oldfiled book says something like :
- "Lady writer is about an author who was talking about his book on TV", and David says something like "it was too much obvious she was trying to sell his book, we could see it on his face"

on the recent french book, I found this info about Lady writer :
even if the writer is not directly named, it is very likely Marina Warner who wrote in 1976 Alone of all her s e x : the myth and the cult of virgin Mary.
in this song Mark is mostly talking about his love break up, and compares Warner's erudition to his wife's one, more limited

Thanks for this information. From the lyrics in Lady writer "Yes and your rich old man,you know he'd a call her a dead ringer", this is maybe the lecturer Kathy fell in love with, who was into literature and books? And he wasn't a fan of Marina Warner? I think the man Kathy cheated on Mark with was some years older and also teached at the same university as Mark at the same time (!). Must have been devastating for him working at the same place.

[Lis]

Just curious...  Do we know who he wrote about in Lady Writer? 
 

the Oldfiled book says something like :
- "Lady writer is about an author who was talking about his book on TV", and David says something like "it was too much obvious she was trying to sell his book, we could see it on his face"

on the recent french book, I found this info about Lady writer :
even if the writer is not directly named, it is very likely Marina Warner who wrote in 1976 Alone of all her s e x : the myth and the cult of virgin Mary.
in this song Mark is mostly talking about his love break up, and compares Warner's erudition to his wife's one, more limited

This is great -- thanks JF! 
*sometimes MK does write some rather biting lines, eh?