Derek Smalls

He is the bassist for mock British heavy metal group Spinal Tap, playing alongside guitarists Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), as well as with a plethora of drummers and keyboardists.

[2] Derek has described bandmates David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel as "distinct types of visionaries ... like fire and ice", saying that he considered his role in the band to be "in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water".

[3] A pipe-smoker, he has been known to enhance his appearance by placing a foil-wrapped courgette in his trousers, which resulted in an embarrassing incident passing through a metal detector at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport during 1982's "Tap Into America" tour.

[11] Jethro Tull singer Ian Anderson has claimed that the name was derived from "Derek Small", which appears in the liner notes of the band's albums Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play.

Smalls was an English career criminal who in the mid 1970s sensationally betrayed dozens of his former associates in exchange for immunity from prosecution, leading to him being dubbed in the British media ‘the Supergrass’.