[2] His mother was the daughter of a schoolmaster; his father was in the Royal Signals Corps in north Africa and Sicily during World War II.

[4] His parents, "both Leicestershire born and bred", moved there when he was four,[5] and his childhood memories include searching for sticklebacks in the River Jordan in nearby Little Bowden.

[6] Illsley attended Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire and a Further Education College near Kettering, Northamptonshire, before starting work as a management trainee for a timber firm.

Convinced that they could make a success of it, with David's brother Mark as lead guitarist and vocalist, David playing rhythm guitar, Illsley on bass and a friend, Pick Withers, as drummer, the four formed a band, eventually named Dire Straits which according to rumour is because they gave up their day jobs and were in financial "dire straits"[8] by the time their band became popular.

However, David Knopfler denies this on his personal website: "The notion that the band were literally in dire straits is largely retrospective myth making and not really factually supportable.

During a period when most major labels expected bands to compose and record one to two albums per year, as well as tour to support them, tensions grew between David Knopfler and his elder brother Mark.

During the recording sessions for their third project, Making Movies, David left the band over creative differences with his brother, who had assumed the role of leader.

Illsley is a keen painter and the first exhibition of his work was shown at the Nevill Keating McIlroy Gallery, Pickering Place, London in 2007.

In August 2014, Illsley was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.