Neil plays in a group in Newcastle called Dust: Their most popular song is a preposterous affair he has written called “Can you hear the dawn break?”. They are heavily influenced by The Incredible String Band. “We were convinced we would become terribly famous. It was a very kind of stoned seventies but we used to think it was absolutely brilliant at the time”.
‘West End Girls’ is named the ‘International Hit of the Year’ at the Ivor Novello Awards.
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Montreal, Canada, the final gig on the North American leg of their Performance tour.
They begin working on a demo of a song drafted by Neil two years before, ‘Breathing Space.’
Starting with a backing track composed by Chris, they work on what quickly becomes ‘Entschuldigung!’ and essentially complete it in a single day.
The Boys appear in concert this evening at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas, Texas. Earlier in the day they did some ‘touristing’ in Dallas. Neil visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum to see what he subsequently describes on their website as the former president’s ‘strangely fascinating paintings of world leaders.’
In London, Neil attends the special live 20th anniversary celebration of the BBC Radio 3 classical music program Private Passions with his friend Janet Street-Porter.