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History

July 1975

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.

On this day

1997

Chris and Neil work on their musical, watch TV, and (according to Neil) ‘probably’ get drunk.

2005

They work on the song ‘One-Way Street’ and write ‘Girls Don’t Cry.’

2009

The Pet Shop Boys’ new single, ‘Love etc.’ has its official debut on BBC Radio 2.

2011

They work on the song ‘Invisible’ and then watch two episodes of the U.S. sitcom Frasier, the entire series of which they have on DVD.

2013

Neil is one of several celebrities in attendance at this evening’s concert by Kraftwerk at the Tate Modern in London, part of the influential German band’s eight-night residency at the famed art gallery. At each show Kraftwerk plays one of their albums in its entirety; tonight’s show focuses on their seventh album, The Man-Machine.

2018

BBC Radio 5 presenter Adrian Chiles discusses the classic silent film Battleship Potemkin on his show this morning. He includes a recorded telephone interview with Neil and a few brief excerpts from the score that the Boys had composed and recorded for the film more than a decade before.