After completing a degree in history at the Polytechnic of North London, Neil takes a job at Marvel Comics, anglicizing spellings and indicating where over-risque woman needed to be redrawn decently. While there he interviews comic fan Marc Bolan, who politely points out that his tape recorder wasn’t working. In 1977 he works at Macdonald Educational Publishing, later moving to ITV Books. In June 1982, he joins Smash Hits.
The Boys, dressed as miners and supported by a Welsh chorus, perform ‘Go West’ live at the BRITS Awards.
They write most of ‘Integral,’ after which Chris goes home to pick up some records for a DJ gig that evening.
The Killers’ ‘Read My Mind,’ featuring one of two mixes by the Pet Shop Boys, is released as a single on U.S. iTunes.
Chris and Neil listen to the tracks they’ve recorded so far with co-producer Andrew Dawson and decide to do further work on ‘Breathing Space’ and ‘Everything Means Something.’
A very busy day: they work with Stuart Price on the second half of their Electric Tour show, Neil records some new lyrics for the Electric track ‘Love Is a Bourgeois Construct,’ and over lunch they discuss with their manager Angela their new deal with Kobalt Label Services.