‘There are a lot of people who get paid a lot for doing not much at all – but we are constantly working’ Liam
Although
both Louis, from Doncaster, and Zayn, from Bradford, had ambitions to
become teachers, forming One Direction two years ago ruled out further
education. Cheshire-born Harry was only 16 when he auditioned for The X Factor
and happily left school for the opportunity to join 1D. Liam – who
reached the judges’ houses stage when he originally auditioned for The X Factor
in 2008, but was rejected by Simon for being ‘too young’ – did a course
in music technology but, had he not gained his place in the band, was
about to start a job making jet parts in a factory near his home in
Wolverhampton. Niall has always ‘lived and breathed music’ but admits to
a keen interest in politics and dreams of one day meeting Barack Obama.
It’s
undeniable that 1D do work harder than most students, but although they
might appear to live gilded lives, they remain endearingly unspoilt and
typical of their generation – as the responses to my student son’s
questions reveal. Do they, for example, ever ‘frape’ each other?
(sneaking someone’s mobile and posting a false, often funny or mildly
obscene message on Facebook or Twitter). ‘We used to frape all the time
but we have to be more careful now,’ says Zayn. ‘But we still do fool
around. Once I shaved off Louis’s eyebrows and then Louis shaved off
Liam’s and then Harry shaved his initials into the hairs on my leg while
I was asleep.’
Zayn believes that one of the reasons
they have bonded so strongly and relate to girls so well is that four out of the five of them are 'the only boys in our family'
The questions reveal that Liam
is the most competitive, that Louis is the band ‘slob’ and Zayn is the
most organised. They won’t reveal who can best hold their drink and in
answer to ‘Do you go on the lash with Simon Cowell?’ they respond with,
‘Oh, that would be so cool!’ So clearly they don’t. They laugh when
asked if they ever eat Pot Noodles for breakfast and if they all get
their five a day. Who looks in the mirror most? ‘That’s probably going
to be me,’ Zayn says nervously. ‘Yeah,’ the others echo in unison. ‘One
hundred per cent! We make a joke about it – we’ll say, “Zayn, quick,
look, there’s a mirror over there you’ve missed.”’
For
all the banter and apparent rivalry they have never had a falling out
(although Liam suggests they have one during this interview ‘just so we
can say that we have’). Zayn believes that one of the reasons they have
bonded so strongly is that four out of the five of them are ‘the only
boys in our family – apart from Niall whose brother is seven years older
than him anyway’.
The
fact that most of them have sisters (Liam has two, Zayn has three,
Harry has one, and Louis has four half-sisters) not only explains why
they can relate to girls, it also binds them as ‘the brothers we never
had’.
They are all proud
of their mothers, but it is Harry who has the edge on maternal pride
right now as his mother Anne is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Although
they all agree that Louis takes the longest to get ready, that Harry,
surprisingly, is ‘taking over from Liam as the sensible one’ and they
point to Zayn as being ‘most conscious of how his hair looks’.
