FROM BOYS TO MEN: HOW FIVE TEENS GREW UP TO BE WORLD’S BIGGEST HEARTHROBS

Niall reveals how Harry turning 18 prompted a night out at the casino, where the boys gambled away a small fortune and got a serious dressing-down for their troubles

WITH their exhausting tour schedule (Niall recently quipped that Zayn will have trouble picking a wedding date) it’s not surprising that the boys occasionally blow off steam. When all five of them were finally over 18 – after Harry’s birthday on February 1 in 2012 – they celebrated in a casino together.

‘Like most of the stupid things we do, it seemed like it was a good idea at the time,’ said Niall.

‘We just thought, “We’re 18, this is the first time we’ve been able to spend a bit of money in weeks because we’ve been on the road.” I won £100, which seemed reasonable, then I stopped.

‘But I’ll have to say, “No comment” about the others. Let’s just say it got a bit ugly and a lot of money was lost. A lot. When our management found out, we got a serious dressing-down about it.’

Oh we’re sure the money men are keeping a very close eye on their bottom line, all right.

But while they may be getting older there’s no sign of their jig getting old. Our moles tell us to expect another documentary film about the boys after this tour, as their every move is being recorded by the man who produced the last one, Ben Winston.

One Direction: This is Us, directed by Morgan Spurlock, was released in cinemas in 2013 and grossed $67m (€50m) in ticket sales worldwide, the highest grossing documentary film that year.

But that’s not all. In December 2013, One Direction broke British sales record with the DVD and Blu-Ray release of their 3D version of This is Us. Nearly 270,000 copies of the movie were sold in Britain alone within three days of its release, beating the record previously set by Michael Jackson’s This is It in 2010 by 10,000 copies.

Yep, they’ve even trumped the Prince of Pop.