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 perform ‘Love Comes Quickly’ and ‘West End Girls’ at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles.
‘It’s a Sin’ debuts on the U.S. singles chart, beginning a 19-week run during which it peaks at #9.
PSB’s 7‑inch remix of the Bloodhound Gang’s ‘Mope’ is released.
Tennant & Lowe’s score for Battleship Potemkin is released on CD. On the same day, the Potemkin ‘mini-tour’ of Germany concludes with a performance in Hamburg.
PSB continue their Fundamental Tour with a concert in Barcelona.
The Boys perform at the House of Blues in Boston.
Chris and Neil perform a special live show in Berlin to celebrate the launch of their new album Elysium, during which most of its songs get their live debut. On this same day, Japan becomes the first country where the album is actually released.
They perform at Glasgow’s Clyde Auditorium.
The Pet Shop Boys deliver the first of two consecutive nights’ performances in Dublin, Ireland.
Neil attends Rufus Wainwright’s two BBC Proms concerts these evening, during which he performs his classic albums Want One and Want Two in their entirety with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
A special centenary screening of Battleship Potemkin, complete with the Tennant-Lowe score, appears on a double bill this evening with It Couldn’t Happen Here at BFI Southbank in London. During an onstage Q&A session, Neil reveals that he and Chris have been in the studio working on a new recording of A Man from the Future with the Manchester Camerata and narrator Juliet Stevenson.