With their perfect hair, kindly demeanour and songs about thrilling romance, boybands such as One Direction induce feelings that have much to teach us about life

The first time I fell in love, I was 13. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach constantly. I took any opportunity to mention my love, no matter how tangential to the conversation. If the subject came up organically, I felt as if I could burst with joy. I never met them, but that didn’t make the feelings any less real. That I was in love with Take That was irrelevant: it was love all the same.

When the British boyband split up in 1996, the press conference was broadcast live. During the Q&A, a journalist from BBC Manchester told the sombre group: “We’ve just had a 14-year-old fan phone in tears. What’s your message to her?” Looking a little befuddled, Mark Owen replied: “Erm ... we’re sorry, I suppose.”