From a grotty council flat to CD-era ubiquity: how Dire Straits conquered the world

IT'S hard to believe now, but when they first formed in 1977, Dire Straits struggled to get gigs because their brand of liquid blues-rock was considered old hat by the new punk orthodoxy. Within eight years, the tables had turned spectacularly. Not only were Dire Straits the biggest band in the world, they were harbingers of a shiny new digital age, with Brothers In Arms becoming the first album to sell a million copies on CD. IT’S hard to believe now, but when they first formed in 1977, D