One Direction star, Niall Horan's father, Bobby Horan, at his home in Mullingar, with a presentation version of 1D's platinum selling single, Up All Night.

‘I won't let fame change Niall'

Now immortalised in wax at Madame Tussauds, Niall Horan and the rest of One Direction – the biggest band on the planet at the minute – have started the European leg of their Take Me Home tour, but Niall’s dad Bobby says he won’t let fame change him.


“It is sometimes hard to comprehend how big he is and even though he’s very young, he’s well liked,” said Bobby.


“I have friends who say, ‘He’s just the same as when he went away’ and I say, ‘why wouldn’t he be?’! He didn’t go to Mars or anything and if I’ve anything got to do with it, he won’t change, let me tell you!”


Keeping in touch with 19-year-old Niall on the phone almost every day, Bobby says he is proud of his son. “I never knew [he’d become famous], but he did. He was so focused, since he was about 12 he was so focused. He used to say ‘I’m going to make it Da’, and I used to say, ‘will you cop yourself on, you sound like Dellboy’, he laughs.


“He had a habit of signing everything, there are phonebooks and they’re just covered in his autograph. He was always singing and from when he was about 11 or 12, people used to say he wouldn’t have an ordinary job.”