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.
Electronic’s ‘Getting Away with It,’ co-written by Neil and with him on background vocals, debuts on the U.S. singles chart. This same afternoon, an ill Derek Jarman is visited at home by Neil and several other friends. Jarman records in his diary, ‘We had a wild half an hour with Neil at his best.’ Neil notes that he and Chris are about to head off to Germany to work on their next album.
The limited-edition Essential CD is released in the U.S. and Japan.
The Pet Shop Boys arrive in Sydney for their first visit to Australia since 1994. Their first day there, they perform at Sydney’s V Festival along with Beck, Gnarls Barkley, the reformed Pixies, and various other artists. Unfortunately, someone enters Neil’s dressing room just before the show and steals his custom-made black long-tailed Dior coat, valued at more than £1,500, which he would otherwise have worn during their performance.
In addition to completing their remix of the Hidden Cameras’ ‘Colour of a Man,’ started the day before, they begin work on a brand new song, ‘Night and the City.’
In a ceremony in Durham Cathedral, Neil receives an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Durham University.