As an ex Cornwall (Kernow) resident, I'm trying to research the gig on Christmas eve in Penzance that Mark mentions as per 'Matchstick Man'
However no such luck yet but I've come across a poster from 'Brewers droop' gig in Truro, Cornwall in August 1971 in which a 22 year old Mark Knopfler and his brother played.
Incidentally also at the festival was Queen!
From the Cornwall Live article:
6. TREGYE FESTIVAL, CARNON DOWNS, 1971
A festival in Carnon Downs? Don't be so ridiculous, but it did happen. Among those on the bill were Arthur Brown, Hawkwind (regulars in Cornwall, with and without Lemmy) and right near the bottom, a returning Queen.
The delightfully named Brewers Droop even featured a young Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame.
A point that bugs me is MK saying that Penzance is as far south of the UK you can go, well that's incorrect as Lizard point, Cornwall is at the southernmost point of the UK..