'I was a Directioner - here's what Liam Payne and the band meant to me'

When One Direction were on The X Factor, I was 12 years old. I’ve often joked I was the perfect age to be indoctrinated. I hadn’t previously shown any interest in boys - but Harry, Niall, Louis, Liam and Niall were different.

Their teenage good looks, their cheeky, charming personalities, and the fact they weren’t much older than I was meant they quickly became my whole life. I followed all the classic fangirl rituals: reading One Direction fanfiction, watching every interview the band gave, maxing out my parents’ landline phone bill by voting for them on The X Factor. For me, it was almost an afterthought that they were musically talented, something they proved as they honed their skills as performers during the reality show’s weekly live performances, after being put together as a group by Simon Cowell.

I wasn’t alone in my obsession. Fans – or Directioners, as we were quickly named – were a huge, sprawling community. It was more common for girls in my year group at school to be besotted with them than not.

We all had a favourite band member, and wore wristbands with Harry, Zayn, Liam, Louis or Niall’s name on them. When the boys were seen in public, even in the early X Factor days, they were mobbed by adoring fans. During the band’s time on the show, ITV also published video diaries on YouTube, which weren’t included in the televised programme.

Filmed as the boys sat on the stairs of the X Factor House, where they spent most of their time during the s.