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.
Chris and Neil begin the first of several successive days in the studio recording tracks with Dusty Springfield for her upcoming album, eventually titled Reputation.
Neil participates in a Stonewall benefit public reading (broadcast live over the radio) of Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol, along with various other celebrities including Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry.
The Boys attend the launch party in London for Streetcore, the posthumous final album by former Clash lead singer Joe Strummer.
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Belo Horizonte, the first of four Pandemonium Tour shows in Brazil.
The Boys appear on the Los Angeles listener-supported KCRW radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic. Not only are they interviewed, but Chris and Neil also perform several numbers from their Electric Tour setlist.