Enter the New Boys Zone
Sunday Magazine, the News of the World Newspaper 25 July 1999
When boy band Westlife invited Sunday to join them on tour in Rome, Maxine Creedy soon found there was notihng boyish about the Irish five-piece who are co-managed by Boyzone's Ronan Keating. They open their hearts about fantasy women - and cuddly toys!
Have you ever had a near death experience?
Shane: When I was about five, I fell over and my head hit the kerb as a car was reversing into our drive. I was knocked out but a lady dragged me to safety just in time.
Kian: I fell off a second floor balcony when I was about five - but I got up and walked away!
Nicky: When I went on holiday to Spain at the age of seven, I jumped into the deep end of a swimming pool and my water wings fell off. If my dad hadn't been there, I would have drowned.
Mark: My local football team won a cup when I was three and they paraded through the town centre on the back of a horse and cart. Just as they went past us, I ran out into the road and fell over right in it's path. My dad was trapped in the crowd but luckily this man pulled me up just as it was about to roll over me
Bryan: I thought I had meningitis when I was younger and had to be rushed to hospital for tests. They gave me and injection in my spine and I was crippled with the pain for months
Where was your first kiss?
Kian: I knew a girl called Orla whose sister used to be a professional Irish dancer. We kissed at the All Ireland Championships.
Shane: It was at the back of our local community centre.
Nicky: Mine was when I was nine with a girl called Debbie - in our garden shed next to my fishing rod! Bryan: Mine didn't happen until I was 17 and it was behind a cinema
Mark: I was about 11 and it was at a party acress the road from my home.
What is the most embarrassing thing you've been caught doing?
Shane: At school I photocopied my hand with my middle finger sticking up, then slipped in under the office door of a teacher who I really hated But just as I was doing it he opened the door! He then proceeded to haul me up in front of the whole class.
Bryan: Use your imagination!
Nicky: Give my nose a good pick on a shoot when I thought no one was looking. The photographer caught me!
Kian: Nothing I can remember
Mark: Me neither
Would you ever consider having cosmetic surgery?
Shane: Never, unless I had a serious accident and was totally disfigured.
Nicky: These days I look in a mirror and think I'd like to change various things, but I agree with Shane.
Bryan: If I was going to change things I'd sort out my chins - I only need one!
If you could be reincarnated, who or what would you like to come back as?
Shane: A horse. We've got several at home and they have a good life, but I'd make sure I didn't have to work.
Nicky: I'd come back as Kian, then he'd know what a nightmare it was sharing a hotel room with him
Mark: I'd come back as a cat because Mariah Carey loves them. In her last video she has them lying all over her, which would be great!
Bryan: Mariah Carey's boyfriend, and then I'd kick all her cats out!
Kian: ME! I'm having a great time, so why would I want to be anyone else?
How did you learn about the birds and the bees?
Bryan: From the movie Basic Instinct! My mum also gave me a book called The Birds And The Bees but I didn't read it. I used to love the pictures though!
Nicky: My dad sat me down for a talk when I was about 13 and asked me what I knew. I told him and he said "That just about covers everything".
Kian: From chatting to my mates.
Mark: I was at a friend's house and I discovered a book and a video which were both very enlightening.
Shane: From my mates. I never had a big sit-down chat.
If you were stranded on a desert island with three women, who would you choose?
Nicky: My mum for her cooking and my girlfriend Georgina for the obvious. I wouldn't need anyone else
Mark: My mum for her cooking, Mariah Carey for her personalitiy and Lisa Kudrow who plays Phoebe in Friends as she makes me laugh.
Kian: Catherine Zeta Jones, Jennifer Lopez and - even though you can't beat my mum's cooking - a female chef as I'd want to do things that I wouldn't want my mum to see
Bryan: Catherine Zeta Jones and Nicole Kidman. They'd keep me more than amused so I wouldn't need a thrid.
Shane: Catherine Zeta Jones - who'd swim across from evryone else's islands if she knew I was there. I'm not sure who else - there are so many to choose from.
What's the best thing about being in WestLife?
Shane: I always wanted to be Michael Jackson as a kid, so this is just as good!
Kian: The whole package. I've always wanted to be in a boy band. We all used to sit around watching Take That videos, and now we've got our own!
Bryan: We're sitting in Rome in the glorious sunshine - why would I want to swap all this for a job in McDonald's ?
Mark: Singing - it gives me such a buzz.
Nicky: I love the whole lifestyle. But there are downsides to everything and at the moment I miss my family and my girlfriend Georgina
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