CONTENTS

COVER

TITLE PAGE

INTRODUCTION

HARRY STYLES

LIAM PAYNE

LOUIS TOMLINSON

NIALL HORAN

ZAYN MALIK

THANKS

COPYRIGHT

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our second book! We can hardly believe it. Thank you so much for buying the first book and getting it to number one. We hope you enjoy this one every bit as much.

We’ve had so much fun writing this and remembering all the crazy, funny and emotional moments we’ve had so far. And believe us, there have been many. We want to share as much with you as we can, so inside you can read all about the ups and downs, find out how we really get on with each other and discover our big plans for the future.

It’s amazing to think about how much has happened in such a short space of time. This time last year we were just starting out on The X Factor. Since then we’ve done loads of travelling, learnt a ridiculous amount and made music which we’re incredibly proud of and we hope you love.

It’s no exaggeration to say we’re having the best time of our lives right now, and there’s no way that would be happening if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for all your unbelievable support. It means the world to us and we love you. Here’s to many, many good times to come.

Love,

HARRY STYLES

HAPPY DAYS

I sometimes get flashbacks of when I was a kid, and I think my earliest memories are of being at Disney World when I was about five. Everything seemed so big and fun and I loved it.

The first time I was ever away from my family was when I started going to a nursery called Happy Days. And they were happy days, to be fair. I always got on really well with all the staff, and the lady who owned the centre was our babysitter, so I probably got to play with the good toys more than the other kids did. I was pretty well behaved and I didn’t get into a lot of trouble or anything. I was more interested in playing than being naughty.

I remember my first day of school pretty clearly. My mum came and sat with me in the class, and then about halfway through the day she left. All the kids were playing together, but some were crying a bit. I felt fine about it and I had a few friends there so I settled in quite quickly and never minded being there. My best friend in primary school was a guy called Jonathan, and he’s still a good friend of mine now and I see him all the time. He came to see me on the tour and we always keep in touch.

I was in the school plays from a really young age and I once played Buzz Lightyear in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I know that sounds a bit weird, but basically when the children hid from the Child Catcher in the toy store they had Buzz and Woody in there, so I got to dress up as Buzz. That was one of my first ever performances, if you can call it that.

I also did a play called Barney about a mouse who lived in a church. I played Barney and I had to wear a pair of my sister’s grey tights and a headband with ears on and sing in front of everyone. I like to think I was a good mouse.

I always used to love singing. The first song I knew all the words to was ‘Girl of My Best Friend’ by Elvis. My dad introduced me to his music, and when I got given a karaoke machine by my granddad, my cousin and I recorded a load of Elvis tracks. I wish I still had them so I could have a listen.

I liked maths from an early age because we got to use bricks and cubes and it was quite fun, but as I got older I found it harder, so I got much more into English. I could produce really good pieces of writing and I felt really proud when I got an A for my first ever essay. But I was so easily distracted that I started spending more and more time chatting to mates in class or daydreaming, and sadly I never quite got up to that standard again.

I liked PE too and I played football a lot. When I started playing for the local football team in goal I made friends from other schools as well, which meant I had a lot of mates. I’ve always liked being around people and getting to know new people, so I’ve always had a wide group of friends. Also I used to be friends with girls as well as boys. I wasn’t one of those boys who thought girls were smelly and didn’t like them; I was kind of friends with everyone.

I got a bit cheekier as time went on, and when I was about eight or nine I started testing the boundaries. I’d often try and get one over on the teachers. I also got much more interested in girls. I only ever got into one fight the whole time I was at school, and that was in primary school. I’m not the type to pick a fight, and if someone had ever tried to start a fight it would make me laugh more than anything.

When I was seven my mum and dad divorced, and that was quite a weird time. I remember crying about it when my parents told me they were splitting up, but after that I was alright. I guess I didn’t really get what was going on properly, I was just sad that my parents wouldn’t be together any more.

My mum, my older sister Gemma and I left Homes Chapel and moved further out into the Cheshire countryside. Our new home was a pub, and my mum became the landlady. There was a boy called Reg living nearby and he was the only other kid in the area, so even though he was my sister’s age we used to hang out together all the time. The summer we moved there Reg and I used to go every day to Great Budworth Ice Cream Farm, which was about two miles away. We’d borrow two pounds off our mums and cycle up there and get an ice cream. I can remember that so clearly. It’s the same ice cream farm I took all the boys to when they came to stay before Bootcamp. And the ice cream is still as good now.

On the subject of girls, when I was about six I was friends with a girl called Phoebe Fox. Her mum and mine were best mates, and I bought her a teddy bear the same as my one and everything. She was the cutest little girl. I had a few other girlfriends here and there when I was really young, but I didn’t have an actual girlfriend until I was 12. Then I went out with a girl called Emilie, and for quite a long time considering how young we were. She’s still a good friend of mine now. I was also with a girl called Abi. I guess you could say that she was my first serious girlfriend.

I’ve been single now since the end of 2009 and I’m fine with that. I’m not consciously looking for a girlfriend, but if I meet someone I like it would be great. I do like being with someone and if the right person came along, then we’d see what happened.

When I was about 12 we moved back to Holmes Chapel, and that’s when my mum met my stepdad, Robin. I really liked him and I was always asking her if he was coming over, but she wanted to make really sure that Gemma and I were okay with him being around. She worried about it a lot, so in the end I used to text him and tell him to come over because I thought he was a really cool guy. I’ve always got on well with him and I still do now.

I was really pleased when Robin proposed to my mum. He did it completely by surprise while they were watching Coronation Street on Christmas Eve a few years ago. I was at my girlfriend Abi’s house at the time and I remember getting a call from my mum and how happy I was when she told me they were going to be getting married. I’m not sure when they’re planning to do it, and even though a few people have suggested this, I don’t think it’s very likely that One Direction will be playing at the wedding.

My mum and I have always been close. I’m such a mummy’s boy. I’m really close to my dad Des as well, and he’s very supportive of everything I’m doing. I think we’re probably quite alike in a lot of ways.

My sister and I have generally got on very well too. I know that a lot of siblings argue, and we had our moments when we were growing up, but we hang out together a lot now and she even came on part of the tour with me.

I’ve made a few style mistakes in my time, and sadly there is photographic evidence! My hair has changed a lot over the years. It started white blond and curly when I was born, then went brown and straight, and then started going curly again when I was 12. So it’s been through several phases. The worst thing was probably when I had blond streaks put in it when I was about eight. I looked like a real chav. I thought it was cool when I went into school the day after having it done, but looking back I looked like a douche. I lived in tracksuits, and as all I ever wanted to do was go out on my bike, I guess it fitted in with my image.

I really enjoyed secondary school and I worked pretty hard, but I enjoyed myself as well. Life is all about balance. I played badminton a lot in secondary school. My dad is really good at it, so I got that from him, and I was always really competitive. I liked the fact that it wasn’t the most obvious sport to get into, and that you need quite a lot of skill to play it. I like things that involve skill and I love anything that’s a bit of a challenge.

At the end of Year Eight I became mates with a guy called Will and he became like my brother. We had the same sense of humour and we got on really well from the word go. He and a friend called Hayden were really keen to start a band, and a guy called Nick had just started to play bass so he joined them too. They wanted to enter a battle of the bands competition at school and they needed a singer, so they asked me to try out.

That was a bit of a shock as I’d only ever sung to myself in the shower or in the car. I knew I could sing a note, but I had no idea how I’d be. But I’d always imagined what it would be like to be in a band, so I started practising with them. We were always singing ‘Summer of 69’ by Bryan Adams and ‘Be My Girl’ by Jet, so we decided to perform them in the competition.

We were all ready to go and we started filling out the application form, but we didn’t have a name and we couldn’t think of anything. It got to the day before the show and we had to put something down, so we decided just to go for something completely random. I suggested White Eskimo, and we hadn’t thought of anything better, so we wrote it down and from then on that’s who we were.

The competition was in the school canteen, and we decided that we were all going to dress in a similar way so we all had white shirts and black ties on. At the time we thought we looked really cool. All of our friends were down at the front of the stage when we sang ‘Summer of 69’, and afterwards this girl came up to me and said, ‘Where did that come from?’ Three finalists were chosen, including us, and we all had to sing again – and we ended up winning, which was amazing. After that we decided to take things a bit more seriously when it came to practising.

The band changed a bit after the competition because we got a new bassist, and also a guitarist called Jacob. We used to practise every Wednesday after school at Will’s house. Then we landed our first gig.

A girl in my school said that her mum was getting married and wanted us to play at the wedding, so we rehearsed solidly for two days. We had a set list of about 25 songs that the bride had chosen, and we learnt the lot. We used my stepdad’s PA system and we went along and set it all up and it all went really well. We felt like a proper band. We performed a lot of Bob Marley tracks, some acoustic songs, and I also sang ‘Halleluiah’.

One of the guests at the wedding was a music producer, and afterwards he came and spoke to us and told us we were really good. He also said that I reminded him of Mick Jagger, which of course I loved.

We got paid £160 for the gig, which worked out at £40 each. And we got free sandwiches. What more can you ask for? We practised more and more after that. Will’s mum is a TV and radio presenter called Yvette Fielding. She was really supportive, giving us advice and helping us with everything. Now we were serious about carrying the band on and trying to get a deal or something one day.

I had always thought about going in for The X Factor, and watching Eoghan Quigg and Lloyd Daniels in 2009 – young lads like me – made me want to do it even more. I also think that being in front of an audience with the band had given me a taste for performing. I loved being on stage and I wanted to do more and more.

I didn’t know if I had what it took, and I was really nervous about actually taking the step and applying, so in the end my mum filled out the application form and sent it off for me – and I’m so grateful she did. I often have those moments when I think, ‘What if she hadn’t done that’ or ‘What if so and so hadn’t happened?’ I had one the other day when we were all sitting down looking at an article about us. It hit me that if I hadn’t gone in for The X Factor I would still be at college. Instead I’m travelling around the country – and other parts of the world – with four of my best mates, having the best time it’s possible to have.

MOVING ON UP

I can remember so much about my X Factor audition and Bootcamp, but at the same time it all seems like such a blur. The best moment for me out of the whole thing was when we were told we were going to be put in a band together. I’d spoken to Louis, Zayn and Niall at Bootcamp and I remember thinking, ‘This is going to be a lot of fun,’ but I never for a moment thought that things would end up like this.

After the show everyone ended up coming to stay at my stepdad’s house in Cheshire, and for the first few days or so we just bonded with each other. It was a new experience for us all because it was like living in a student flat. My mum and Robin completely left us to our own devices. We all put in some money and my mum put a load of food in the fridge and we were left to get on with it. I cooked dinner for us one night – chicken breasts, chips and peas – and we all sat around the table in the bungalow talking rubbish. Other than that I think we ate Super Noodles most days, and we’d go out into the garden and play football for ages. We’d do ten minutes of singing practice, then play football for three hours, have a swim, drive to KFC … We were just messing around, but it was a really good way of getting to know each other’s personalities. We were learning little bits about each other by having silly banter.

I got on with Louis from the word go. We’re very similar and I like the fact that he has this ability to be nice to everyone while living totally for the moment. It puts a smile on your face when you see someone like that. I feel I can tell him anything, and I felt like that straight away. He can be really funny one minute, but if someone has a problem he can go into serious mode straight away and he gives really good advice.

Spain was so, so weird because we were still getting to know each other and then all of a sudden we were getting on a plane together for what felt like a holiday. We were still finding out so much about each other – in fact, we still are – so it was another really good time. I think we suddenly felt really grown up because we were in this big competition and, even though the X Factor staff were there, we were looking after ourselves to a certain extent.

Getting told we were through to the live finals was another moment I’ll never, ever forget. We honestly had no idea whether Simon would pick us or not, so to get a yes was just the most amazing feeling in the world. We were in shock when we were phoning our parents to tell them, but we had to keep it quiet from everyone else, which made things a bit weird. I wanted to tell the world, I was so happy.

We went back home for a while after Spain, and with some money I borrowed from my mum I ordered loads of clothes for the live shows because I wanted to be prepared. I have paid her back now, by the way.

What was weird then was getting used to people knowing who I was. My audition was shown the day before I moved into the house, so all my friends were texting me to say well done. When I headed up to London we stopped at a petrol station and someone there recognised me, and that was so strange.

Moving into the house was cool, and I didn’t even mind that our room was tiny. It did get pretty grotty, because you can imagine what it’s like with five teenage boys sharing a small space. We had a lot of luggage and there was too much stuff in the room, so it ended up being a bit grim. Apparently at one point someone took a swab from the wall and sent it off to a lab for testing and it had loads of different types of bacteria on it.

We did try to keep the room tidy, but the longer we were in the show the more stuff we accumulated, and the room seemed to get smaller and smaller. I can’t have disliked it that much, though, because Louis and I are planning to move in together. It must have been bearable.

I have so many great memories of being in the house, especially all of the times I went naked. Stripping off is very liberating, I feel so free. It’s always a spur of the moment thing, but no one seemed to mind. I think Mary secretly liked it … I’d become a lot more confident during my time in the show through being in front of so many people, and my confidence came out in my nakedness. I also used to moon a bit at school, because it made me laugh, so I was carrying it on.

Sometimes I was totally starkers, and sometimes I wore a thong. My friend Nick bought me a gold snake-print thong for my birthday, and I took it into the house with me because I thought it would be funny, and then I started wearing it.

One time I had to do a naked video clip for ITV2 where I was standing there with no clothes on and the boys had to pass various objects across me, keeping certain parts covered. That was the plan, but at one point Zayn didn’t move the book he was holding quickly enough and the cameraman got a bit of an eyeful. I think you could safely say I’m not shy.

Performance wise, I really enjoyed doing ‘Something About the Way You Look Tonight’, which I suggested as soon as we heard about the Elton John week. I love that song, and I think it worked really well. We met some amazing celebrities as well. Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole are absolute legends, and Jonathan Ross had us all laughing. Alan Carr and Russell Brand were really cool as well. I can’t believe we got to meet so many of our heroes.

I found the X Factor final very emotional. We had no idea whether or not we would win, and when we came third it really hit me. I cried as soon as we got off stage, and then I stopped, took some deep breaths and was fine again. After that, when we got invited up to Simon’s office to discover our fate, I tried to stay as calm as possible, but on the inside I was terrified. As soon as Simon told us we had a record deal I started crying again and I sat there thinking, ‘Why am I crying? If this works out it’s going to totally change my life.’ My life had already changed so much, but that was the moment that told me I didn’t have to go back to doing what I did before. At least not for a while.

Even though I’d always wanted to be in a band and sing on stage when I was growing up, I never imagined it would actually happen. Imagine being told you could do exactly what you want to do for a job. It’s one of those things you always want to hear, and then when you hear it you don’t know how to react.

I couldn’t wait to tell my family the news – in fact I wanted to shout it out to everyone – but of course we had to keep it quiet. I went back downstairs to the bar area because there was a little party going on down there, and I think my parents could tell from the look on my face what had happened. We all had a massive hug and all of us were unbelievably happy and excited.

A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER

I think we were all looking forward to having a break over Christmas. I missed the boys quite a lot, but at the same time it was great to just relax and see my family. Loads of my friends wanted to catch up, so things were quite busy, but I didn’t want people to think that I’d changed and I didn’t have time for them or whatever. Sometimes I’ll be speaking to my mates for a while and they’ll say, ‘It’s so weird, you haven’t changed at all,’ and that always makes me feel so relieved. Sometimes I stop myself from talking too much about stuff I’ve been doing, because even though it’s my job I don’t want to seem like I’m showing off or name-dropping.

I would hate anyone to think that I was trying to impress them. I don’t need to; they’re my oldest friends.

All of my friends have been so supportive of everything I’ve been doing. It was frustrating for me, because sometimes during the show I’d get a text and I’d want to reply straight away but I’d be whisked away – then everything would go out of my head, which meant I sometimes forgot to reply to people. But all of my friends were so good about it and so understanding when things suddenly became crazy busy. They knew that even if I didn’t get to reply I liked the fact that they were still texting me and they were there for me. One of the great things about being on the tour was that we knew where we would be and when, so friends could come and visit us and we could catch up. It was much easier to organise seeing each other.

A lot of my friends are genuinely happy about how well things have gone so far and they like asking me questions. That’s how I know who is a genuine friend and who isn’t. I have come across some jealousy, and some people have made comments and distanced themselves from me without actually letting me know. I’ve tried to talk to them as I always would and they’re a bit cold with me. When you’ve been close to someone it’s hard when they start acting that way towards you. I’m not going to chase after people and beg them to be my friend, but I wouldn’t want them to think I don’t care, because I do. So while some people assume or think I’ve changed, it’s actually them who have changed.

There are times when I would like to go home and just be normal and see my mates again and go to all of the old places. I enjoy spoiling my family, and there are times when I would love to treat my friends as well, and I know that my true friends won’t think anything of it. I’m not just talking about money. It’s also nice to be able to help people in other ways. For instance, my friend Ben is really talented musically and wanted to get some work experience, so I managed to get him some on the tour and he loved it. I would never have had the opportunity to do something like that before, but I’ll help my mates out in any way that I can.

I’m trying my best to stay as down to earth as possible, so I don’t want people doing things for me that I could do myself. Sometimes people think they should get me a bottle of water or some lunch, but I’m capable of picking up my own water, so why should they have to do it? It’s nice that people offer, and I understand that if we’re really busy and we don’t have time to get lunch, or we’re rehearsing on stage and we can’t grab a drink, someone may get it for us, but if a bottle of water is in a fridge two feet away from me I can walk over and get it.

My mum would never let me get away with that sort of thing. If I was at home and I asked her to get me a drink she’d be like ‘You know where the glasses are.’ At the same time it’s funny when I go home now because I’m so used to doing everything myself, but my mum still likes to look after me in a lot of ways, so I feel like a proper kid again when I’m back with my family.

A lot of people say nice things about the band and we get a lot of praise. Obviously it’s lovely to hear and it always puts a smile on your face when someone tells you that you’re good at what you do, but I want to keep my feet on the ground as much as possible. I would never want to get big-headed. It’s such an unattractive trait and I can’t imagine myself ever being like that. I always want to be aware of staying true to myself.

I spent Christmas mainly at home with my family. That was the most important thing to me. That, and seeing my friends, which I managed to do a few times. Things had been so busy that all I wanted to do was have a break, watch TV and eat and sleep. I had such a nice time, doing the same family things we do every year.

One thing that was different was that some fans came to my house over Christmas, and it was so cold that I felt really bad about them being outside. I did go out and see them as much as possible if I was there, but I felt terrible that they were standing in the freezing cold because of me. As a band we’ve always said that we’ll never complain about people coming to see us or wanting autographs or photos. They’re the reason we’re doing all of this.

We appreciate the support so much. It’s great to know that people like what we’re doing. Some days I read 100 great Twitter comments and there may be one from someone saying they don’t like me. If I’m having a bad day for some reason, that’s the one I remember and it can make me feel a bit down. Then I’ll go back and read the nice messages again and they’ll lift me. They mean a lot to all of us.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

The New Year meant getting back to work, and we knew it was going to be busy. We had the tour coming up, so we had rehearsals for that, and we also had quite a lot of meetings and gigs, so things were pretty non-stop. But we’d all had a good break and we were ready to get back into it.

One of the first things we did was go to LA. When we got told we were going there my mouth literally fell open. I love going abroad but I’d never been to LA and had always wanted to. I’d seen and read so much about it, so I was looking forward to seeing how much of it was true.

LA is something else. Everyone you see looks like they’re famous, but I really liked it as a place. It was really hot there, so we were wearing shorts and t-shirts most of the time, and we got to chill out quite a bit as the hotel we stayed in, the W, had a pool.

What I found weird was that the people over there are so polite. When you get your breakfast brought to you in a hotel in England they’ll drop it off and barely say a word, but over there they’re so cheerful you want to invite them in to share it with you. This one woman who dropped off my food was like ‘Good morning, sir, how’s your day going? Where do you want me to put this good stuff?’ They literally couldn’t do enough for you.

We did some recording in this really cool complex where there were loads of different things going on. In one studio they were recording the backing vocals for Glee, and then Randy Jackson’s office was 100 metres away, so we went and met him and he was an amazing guy. He was so friendly.

We got some time off to go shopping too, so I literally raided Abercrombie and Fitch. Louis reckons I bought every single t-shirt they had in there, but I think he’s exaggerating. I did get quite a few, though …

I wish we’d had more time in LA, but we did really enjoy the five days we spent there. It was like I expected it to be, with the sun and the glamorous people, and it’s definitely somewhere I’d like to go back to. I really want to go to Venice Beach and see what that’s like.

We were all quite tired when we landed back in London, but we were soon woken up by the sight of hundreds of fans. It’s become a bit of a legendary story now about us being mobbed and the police being called and everything. I’d never experienced anything like it in my life. We’d seen loads of fans at The X Factor, but usually they were either outside behind a gate or in the audience. And when we meet fans at hotels or outside gigs they’re usually in small groups. Well this was definitely not a small group!

I was really shocked by the whole experience of having to run through the crowd, but I made myself enjoy it instead of being scared of it, because I knew it was something special. When we were in the police van afterwards we all sat there going ‘What the hell?’ It was almost as if it hadn’t happened, it was so surreal, but looking back on it now it was an amazing moment.

When tour rehearsals came around we were well aware that we would have to work really hard. We wanted to put on an amazing show and we had a lot of new stuff to learn, including dance routines. We were taught things like how to put more energy into moving around, which is hard when you’re in an empty warehouse performing to no one.

We also had to practise putting talking bits in between songs, which also felt weird because we’d be talking to an audience of six crew members, and even they didn’t respond.

Getting to put everything we’d learnt into practice was the ultimate pay-off for all the hard work we’d done. I can’t even begin to describe what it was like when we all stood on the stage together for the first night of the tour in Birmingham. Looking out and seeing all the banners and hearing thousands of people shouting your name … It really doesn’t get much better than that. We’d performed on The X Factor and we’d done gigs, but nothing compared to this. I had to stand there for a moment just to take it all in, but as soon as we started singing we were off.

I think even that first arena performance in Birmingham was different to anything else we’d ever done in terms of how much energy we put into it and how much we moved around the stage. It felt almost natural being there, even though it was also completely and utterly surreal. There were several times when we all looked at each other and I could tell we were all thinking the same thing – ‘This is incredible!’

The rush you get being on stage in front of so many people is indescribable. I wish everyone could have that feeling. I can be so tired and feeling like I’m in a bad mood, then I get on stage and I feel amazing. I’m so hyped up when I come off stage that I shout a lot and jump around. There’s no feeling like it.

I loved the tour so much I never wanted it to stop. I didn’t even get homesick, because we were so busy we didn’t get time to think about it, but I actually felt really guilty about that. All in all we were pretty well behaved on the tour, but we had our moments, like the fruit fight. At least we didn’t throw any TVs out of windows or anything … but there’s still time.

The wrap party at the end of the tour was good, but we all felt sad saying goodbye to everyone. I was up until about five in the morning so I was a bit tired the next day, but we had a day off to chill out so it didn’t matter too much.

When the tour was over, Louis, his mate Stan, my friend Johnny and I all went off on a skiing holiday together. I’d never been skiing before and I was desperate to give it a go. We had a brilliant laugh in Courchevel and I’d love to go back again.

We worked really hard on the album to find the right songs. They needed to be perfect. We wanted our first single to be a big summer song. For instance, when the Black Eyed Peas single ‘I Gotta Feeling’ came out in 2009 it was the song of the summer. When everyone heard it, it reminded them of all the good times they’d had. We wanted our first single to be like that and be the song that everyone would remember.

The people we got to work with on the album were incredible. Steve Robson is very, very talented and has worked with James Morrison and Take That and all sorts of people. Working with RedOne and Rami was very cool too because they’re legendary. It feels so odd to be working in all of these studios that we would never have even dreamed of walking into before we were in the band. It was quite surreal.

Having our first book go to number one in the book charts was also pretty unbelievable. We were excited about it being out there and hoped that some fans would buy it, but we didn’t realise just how many would get it. It was a complete shock and really exciting. The fans that came along to the book signings were incredible. I got given a lot of turtles because I once said I liked them, and it’s so cool when people remember little things you’ve said and chat to you about them.

We’ve done so many brilliant things this year. Filming the documentary was an interesting experience, but we are used to the cameras now so we all felt pretty chilled out about it. Photo shoots are always cool too. Even though we’ve done them before, each time it feels like a new experience.

Going on the Alan Titchmarsh show was a good laugh, because it’s one of those shows that everyone has seen. And he was a really nice guy. That was the first proper TV thing we did after The X Factor, so it’s one that we’ll always remember.

LOOKING FORWARD

One of the surprising things about being in the band is how committed fans are to us. Some of them came to loads of dates on the tour. People still don’t expect you to recognise them, though. There was a girl who was in our hotel one day who had been on loads of the tour, and she was really shocked that we’d remembered her name and knew who she was – but of course we do. We remember people just like anyone else would, and it’s nice to have the chance to get to know them properly.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to the press attention. It still feels very strange when I pick up a newspaper and something has been written about me. It sometimes feels like I’m reading about someone else. But as long as people carry on writing nice things about us I don’t mind.

As a band, we’re having the absolute best time ever. We’ve become better friends than I could ever have imagined and it’s so nice to have four other lads to share this experience with. If ever one of us is down the others pick him up, and we’ve got really good at coming up with ideas and putting things into practice as a group. I think we’re going to get tighter and tighter as time goes on.

Out of all the things that we have coming up, what we’re most excited about is getting out on the One Direction tour. We can see a lot more of the fans and they can see us performing our songs. It’s down to us to show what we’re all about, and we’re looking forward to doing exactly that.

We’ve got a lot of big dreams. We want to have number ones, travel a lot, go back to America and have as much fun as possible. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

QUICKFIRE

DOB: 1/02/1994

STAR SIGN: Aquarius

favourite …

FILM: Love Actually, The Notebook, Titanic – there are so many (but I tell everyone it’s Fight Club)

BODY PART: My hands, because I’ve always been told that they’re soft

FOOD: I love sweetcorn

ALBUM: 21 by Adele

FRIEND: Louis Tomlinson

CELEBRITY LADY: Frankie Sandford

SHOP: Selfridges

DRINK: I’ve been trying to just drink water but I love apple juice

COLOUR: Orange

TV SHOW: Family Guy

AFTERSHAVE: Blue by Chanel

PERFUME: Alien by Thierry Mugler

COMPUTER GAME: Fifa

IPHONE APP: Texts From Last Night, where people send in texts that people have sent them when they’re drunk. My friend Ali and I send good ones to each and some of them are so funny

WAY TO SPEND A SUNDAY: Asleep or chilling out

DATE VENUE: Restaurant

COUNTRY: England

RESTAURANT: TGI Fridays

WAY TO RELAX: I love getting massages because I’ve always had a really bad back

MODE OF TRANSPORT: Dog sleigh

NIGHT OUT: Going for dinner with all of my mates

BAND: The Beatles, Queen

WHAT COLOUR IS YOUR DUVET COVER? Brown or pink and blue

WHAT KIND OF PANTS DO YOU WEAR? Boxer shorts. I like Calvin Klein

FIRST PET: A dog called Max

DO YOU LIKE YOUR OWN COMPANY OR OTHER PEOPLE’S? The company of people. I like being around friends and family

LAST BOOK YOU READ: Forever Young by One Direction

LAST FIVE THINGS YOU BOUGHT: A pair of shoes from Supra, an Adidas t-shirt from Selfridges, a Nandos, dinner at TGI Fridays and some toothpaste

WHAT TYPE OF GIRLS DO YOU LIKE? I don’t have a type, because with some girls I may not find them attractive immediately, but then I really get to like them because their personality is so attractive. I like someone I can have a conversation with, and I would always look for someone who could get on with my parents. It’s important to me that my family like her too.

LIAM PAYNE

KEEP ON RUNNING

I guess one of the strangest things I can tell you about my younger years is that I’ve only got one kidney because when I was born I was effectively dead. Weird, I know. The doctors couldn’t get any reaction from me, so I had to be brought round, and although it seemed like I was okay, there were underlying problems.

I was born three weeks early and I kept being ill. From the age of zero to four I was always in hospital having tests done but they couldn’t find out what was wrong. In the end they discovered that one of my kidneys wasn’t working properly, and because it hadn’t been discovered in time it had scarred, and the other one was working at 95 per cent of its capacity. It got to the stage when I had to have 32 injections in my arm in the morning and evening to try and make me better. I’ve still got both kidneys, but one doesn’t work, so I have to be careful not to drink too much, even water, and I have to keep myself as healthy as possible.

My first ever school was an infant school in Wolverhampton called Collingwood and I was a bit of a naughty boy. In fact, I was often called into the headmistress’s office in the first few days. I used to have water fights in the toilets and climb on the roof to get footballs back.

By the time I went to junior school I’d grown up a lot and I tried out for a lot of the school teams but I never got into any of them. Then one day I tried out for the cross-country running team and I came first in the race.

There was a guy who was running for Wolverhampton at the time and he was one of the best runners around, and I beat him, so everyone said that I cheated. The next week we ran the same race and I won again, and that’s how I found out I could run. From then on I was training all the time and getting up at six in the morning to run for miles. At the age of 12 they put me in the school’s under 18s team, so I was running against 18-year-old men and keeping up with them.

I joined Wolverhampton and Bilston running team, and for three of the five years I was the third best 1500 metres runner in my age group in the country, which was amazing.

I carried on being sporty in high school and I joined the basketball team, but some older kids picked on me because I had some really nice basketball clothes I’d bought in America. They decided that meant I thought a lot of myself, so they started bullying me. I was only 12 and they were a lot older, so I needed to find a way to defend myself. My sister had a boyfriend called Martin who used to box, so my parents suggested that I went along with him and learnt to defend myself.

It wasn’t the nicest gym in the world and you had to fight everyone regardless of age or size, so there I was, at 12 years old, fighting the 38-year-old trainer. I broke my nose, had a perforated eardrum and I was always coming home with a bruised, puffy face. But it gave me so much confidence. It was nerve-wracking at first, but I got pretty good over the next couple of years.

These older kids were still bullying me, to the point where once they chased me into the road. It all got too much so I stood up to them and ended up having a fight with one of them. Thankfully I won, but I nearly got kicked out of school for it, which obviously wasn’t ideal.

I was a bit of a mini businessman when I was young. I really look up to the guys on Dragon’s Den and I used to buy big boxes of sweets and sell them at school for a profit. I used to make about £50 a week and my dad was so proud of me. I never had any proper jobs because I was always busy doing singing gigs, so that’s how I used to make my money.

I was always singing karaoke when I was growing up. I used to get up anywhere and sing Robbie Williams songs. I did my first rendition of ‘Let Me Entertain You’ at a holiday camp when I was about six, and I didn’t stop from then on. I’ve done karaoke in America, Spain, Portugal – you name it.

I always loved singing and dancing. My sister Ruth and I were always singing in the car, and my mum says that even when I was a really young kid I used to dance around the living-room to Noddy. I also used to put my dad’s glasses on, clasp my hands behind my back and sing along to his Oasis CDs, pretending to be Liam Gallagher.

I’ve got two older sisters, Nicola and Ruth. I always got on really well with Ruth when we were growing up, but I guess because Nicola, being the eldest, was usually left in charge when my parents went out, I saw her as a figure of authority, so we used to bicker sometimes. Ruth and I are very alike in that we both like to sing and we don’t really drink or anything, whereas Nicola is more of a party girl.

In Year Nine I joined the school choir and we used to do loads of shows in front of audiences, which I guess got me quite used to it. We set a world record when we joined with loads of other schools and sang the same song in unison. It was the Bill Withers track ‘Lean on Me’ and it was great because I got one of the solo parts.

Apart from singing I liked science, and of course PE. My parents even suggested that I could go on to be a PE teacher. I was a big football fan and I used to play every lunchtime, rain or shine. I also used to go and watch West Bromwich Albion, and I remember running on to the pitch when we got promoted. It was a great moment.

Judging by photographs of me growing up, my hair has kind of come full circle. I had a big mushroom when I was a kid, then I had tramlines put in the side of my head and eyebrows like my sister’s boyfriend Martin. After that I shaved it all off to grade three, then I grew it long again, so it’s now similar to how it was when I was a kid. I keep thinking about shaving it all off again, because it would be so much easier to manage, but I’m a bit scared of doing it.

Clothes-wise I made a few mistakes here and there too. I used to wear this bright orange Umbro t-shirt and a special pair of shorts that I loved. I didn’t really have much of an interest in fashion generally, so when my first X Factor audition came around I had absolutely nothing nice to wear. My shoes had a hole in them and I borrowed a pair of Armani jeans from Martin. He’s a 34-inch waist and I’m a 28, so they were really belted in. I wore a large shirt and then I bought a £30 waistcoat, which was the only thing I spent money on. When I look back now I can’t believe I got away with it. I did three rounds of The X Factor with a hole in my shoe.

Despite my hair mistakes, I think I got away with it at school. I had a girlfriend called Charnelle in Reception, who used to send me love letters. I was also really proud of the fact that I went out with a girl who was in Year Six when I was in Year Four. She was one of my sister’s friends, and I thought I was really cool having an older girlfriend.

I really liked one girl called Emily and asked her out 22 times, but she always said no. Finally I sang to her and then she said she’d go out with me, but she dumped me the next day. My mates used to wind me up and pretend that girls liked me when they didn’t, so I’d ask them out and they’d say no, which was mortifying.

I had a few dating disasters along the way, with girls cheating on me, and one girl was the inspiration for me singing ‘Cry Me a River’ on The X Factor. That was my payback to her because she was unfaithful.

I’ve always preferred having girlfriends to just seeing people. I think it’s nice to have someone special. I was seeing a girl called Shannon while I was in The X Factor. We were seeing each other for a while, but we had to be apart for months on end so it put a lot of pressure on the relationship and we finally split up. We still speak to each other, but it was just one of those things.

I was 14 when I first tried out for The X Factor. I had become really bored with running and although I was on the reserve list for the 2012 Olympics, I wanted to find something I could do apart from run. When I told my mates I was going in for The X Factor we had a bit of banter because they thought it was quite funny, but they were also supportive.

The only thing I really wanted to do was see Simon Cowell, and I waited nine hours in a queue to get that chance, but it was definitely worth it. I felt quite grown-up at the time and like I was capable of handling everything that came with being on the show. But looking back now at all we’ve been through, there is no way I could have handled it. No way at all.

It was horrible to be turned away at Judges’ Houses, but if I had made the live shows I wouldn’t have known what had hit me. JLS and Alexandra Burke were in that year and I would have been gone straight away.

It was hard going back to school having done The X Factor because I got a real taste for performing on a big stage and all I wanted to do from that moment on was be a pop star. My schoolwork suffered quite a bit, to be honest, and I remember my head of year talking to me about my grades and things. I remember him saying, ‘Your grades are slipping. What if your voice breaks and you can’t sing any more? What will you do then? You won’t have any qualifications to fall back on.’

That really hit me and I started working a lot harder from then on and I ended up getting one A* in PE, as well as two Bs, six Cs and a D. The school wanted me to carry on and do A-levels, but I went to music college instead. At least I did get decent grades in the end, though.

Going away for a few years after I first tried out for The X Factor and doing gigs was the best thing I could have done. I worked with producers and writers but I never signed any deals, just in case I ever wanted to try out for The X Factor again. If I hadn’t made it I was going to do an apprenticeship with my dad, which seemed quite exciting to me, but first he wanted me to give the singing all I had.

My dad works in a factory building planes, and in my mind I was going to be playing with giant Lego or something, but it’s actually really hard work. My other back-up plan was to become a fireman. But then, when I was 16, I decided to give singing and The X Factor another go.

THE NEXT STEP

Trying out for The X Factor for a second time was really nerve-wracking because now I wanted it more than ever. Some friends and family members were even a bit worried about me going for it, in case I got let down again, but I knew I had to try, whatever happened. I desperately wanted to get a yes from Simon and prove how much I’d come on since the last time I was on the show. I’d grown up so much since I was last there.

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