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.
Neil attends an invitation-only live set by Depeche Mode at a South London TV studio. The DM performance, in which they debut tracks from their soon-to-be-released album Ultra, is videotaped for later broadcast on MTV.
Chris begins work in a London studio (sans Neil, but assisted by Pete Gleadall) on the music for ‘Nine Out of Ten.’
The Boys tape their appearance on Later… with Jools Holland, to be aired two days from now. They perform four songs.
They work on several tracks, including their first attempt at the old Madness song ‘My Girl.’
The CNN website runs a story about how the Pet Shop Boys had rejected a recent request by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) that they change their name to the ‘Rescue Shelter Boys’ as a gesture toward educating the public about the downside of pet shops. CNN even makes it the subject of a poll on the home page of their website.
Chris and Neil attend Boy George’s show this evening at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. Afterwards George writes on Twitter, ‘Lovely to see the Pet Shop Boys tonite. Neil is looking über well and Chris is still a lovely rascal!’