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 Pet Shop Boys debut ‘Casting a Shadow’ at Cornwall during a total solar eclipse.
They headline at the Love Planet Festival in Prague.
Still feeling a bit ‘jet-lagged’ (as they note on their official website), the Boys perform at the Summer Sonic festival in Osaka, Japan.
Exactly six years after their previous Summer Sonic festival appearance in Japan, they perform at Summer Sonic once again, this time in Tokyo. Afterwards Neil notes on their official website that they had watched the festival performances of Johnny Marr and of Earth, Wind & Fire as well.
The Boys perform for a second consecutive evening in Utrecht.