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.
Neil and Chris begin working in New York City with Peter Rauhofer on ‘Kitsch,’ an old song from the sixties. Nothing ever comes of it.
The Boys perform their Battleship Potemkin score in a free concert in Neil’s hometown of Newcastle. It’s probably no coincidence that this event occurs on May Day—an international socialist holiday.
They rehearse for their upcoming charity performance at the Heaven nightclub in honor of their late friend and associate Dainton Connell.
Though it’s dated ‘June/July,’ it’s on the newsstands in this month of May: the Pet Shop Boys appear on the cover of the U.S. gay magazine Out for the second time. Included is a lengthy interview with them by Andrew Sullivan.
Neil appears as a guest on the fifth-anniversary episode of the Bigmouth podcast.