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.
‘In Private’ by Dusty Springfield, written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys, is released as a single.
The Boys perform the first of two consecutive nights’ shows at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City.
Nightlife debuts on the U.S. album chart at its #84 peak.
Neil and Chris spend some time ‘playing tourist’ out in the desert near Monterrey, Mexico.
After a month-long break, the Boys begin what they describe as the ‘winter leg’ of the Pandemonium Tour with a concert in Athens, their first show in Greece in seven years. They also appear on Greek television this evening in a pre-recorded segment of the local version of X Factor, during which they perform ‘It’s a Sin.’
Neil and Chris attend the Evening Standard Theatre Awards show at London’s Savoy Hotel. There they, along with their collaborator Javier De Frutos, receive the ‘Beyond Theatre’ award for their ballet The Most Incredible Thing. Their friend (and also sometimes collaborator) Sam Taylor-Wood presents the award to them, explaining that it’s in recognition of ‘people who swap genres and break boundaries.’
They work in the studio on their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Last to Die.’
The Boys perform for the second night in a row in Mexico City, only this time at a different venue: the Teatro Metropólitan.