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.
‘West End Girls’ tops the U.K. pop charts.
In an onstage discussion facilitated by Michael Bracewell, Neil appears at the U.K. National Portrait Gallery to talk about the PSB approach to image and design. He’s accompanied by Philip Hoare and Chris Heath, authors of Pet Shop Boys Catalogue.
The Pet Shop Boys perform their Battleship Potemkin score with the BBC Concert Orchestra in a sold-out show at London’s Barbican Hall.
Neil and Chris meet Andrew Dawson in person for the first time at his Los Angeles studio. Together they listen to demos of prospective songs for their next album.