1. Zayn Malik was born on 12th January 1993 in St Luke’s Hospital, Bradford. He’s the second oldest member of One Direction behind Louis.
2. Zayn was brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Other famous Bradfordians include magician Dynamo, Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud, Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson and Gareth Gates.
4. Zayn fancies the pants off Megan Fox and has a secret man crush on Justin Timberlake.
5. Zayn’s favourite book is Harry Potter.
6. Zayn has a soft spot for intelligent girls.
7. Zayn can’t swim and is scared of open water (also known as Aquaphobia). Despite this he likes sharks – especially hammerheads!
8. Zayn’s favourite band of all time is *NSYNC.
9. Zayn’s X Factor audition wasn’t broadcast on the main show. When he had progressed further it was shown retrospectively on spinoff The Xtra Factor.
10. Malik in Arabic means ‘king’ or ‘chieftain’.
11. Zayn’s name is actually spelt with an ‘i’ (Zain). He reckons ‘Zayn’ looks more original and adopted it as his stage name.
12. Despite living in Bradford, Zayn is a Manchester United fan – just like Louis and Harry.
13. Zayn attended Lower Fields Primary School as a youngster before moving on to Tong High School.
14. Zayn dated fellow X Factor star Rebecca Ferguson for four months but the relationship ended when they “drifted apart”. Rebecca is six years older than Zayn.
15. Zayn has three sisters but no brothers. They’re called Doniya, Waliyha and Safaa.
16. Zayn’s middle name is Javadd (often wrongly written as Javaad, Jawadd or Jawaad).
17. Zayn’s favourite song of all time is ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson.
18. Zayn was born to British Pakistani father Yaser and an English mother Tricia Malik (maiden name Brannan).
19. During his time on The X Factor, Zayn’s granddad sadly passed away. In tribute, Zayn has his granddad’s name Walter tattooed on his chest in Arabic.
20. Zayn is addicted to cigarettes and desperately wants to give up. He said at the start of 2012: "My new year's resolution is definitely to quit smoking. I need to do it." Come on Zayn, more willpower!
21. Zayn is currently dating Little Mix singer Perrie Edwards. They publicly announced their relationship in May 2012.
22. Zayn is a Muslim and recently tweeted "La ila ha ill lalla ho muhammed door rasoolalah", a common declaration of faith that means “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah."
23. Zayn says he’s totally flabbergasted by the success of One Direction in America. He told The Sun: "We thought it could be the same few hundred people tweeting us over and over again. Until we got to America, we didn't realise how crazy it was."
24. Zayn means ‘beautiful’ in Arabic.
25. Zayn has a bizarre pre-gig superstition – he always brushes his teeth before getting on stage. He admitted to The Hits Radio that his habit “is a little bit weird.”
26. Just like Harry Styles, Zayn is a cat lover. His favourite animal is a lion.
27. Zayn’s Twitter name is @zaynmalik. As of 13th July 2012 he has 4,274,799 followers.
28. Zayn has a total of EIGHT tattoos on his body. The most recent is a life-size microphone on his right forearm that he had done in Los Angeles in June 2012.
29. In June this year Zayn sprained his wrist while working out and was forced to wear a bandage onstage in Las Vegas. The injury prompted a #GetWellSoonZayn hashtag on Twitter. Fortunately it wasn’t serious and Zayn removed the bandage days later. Phew!
30. Zayn is great friends with One Direction touring buddy Olly Murs and describes him as “like an older brother.” Bless!
31. In March 2012, Zayn missed some dates on 1D’s North American tour as he had to return to the UK for his aunt’s funeral. Harry tweeted at the time: "Zayn has suffered a loss in his family & has had to go home for a few days so won't be at our next shows in the US."
32. Zayn loves posing topless! However, he says he’s too shy to pose naked.
33. A very nervous Zayn almost walked off The X Factor at bootcamp as he couldn’t perfect his dance moves. Fortunately, the legendary Simon Cowell talked him round and Zayn went on to wow the judges.
34. Zayn originally applied to be on the 2009 series of The X Factor but pulled out before auditions due to nerves.
35. Zayn says he’s the neatest member of One Direction and jokingly described his bandmates as “pigs.”
36. Zayn says that if he wasn’t in One Direction he’d like to be an English teacher.
37. Asked what the best part of a girl’s body is, Zayn said: “I’m very attracted to a girl’s eyes. They don’t have to be a certain colour. I think you can tell a lot by a girl’s eyes.”
38. Zayn loves drawing when he has the spare time.
39. One of his pet hates is people chewing loudly with their mouth open. We agree, Zayn!
40. Zayn used to love singing R Kelly’s soppy ballad ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ as a kid. His mum Tricia said to the Daily Record: “I have quite a few videos of him singing as a little boy but he’s banned me from showing anyone. My favourite is him singing I Believe I Can Fly wearing a green dressing gown." This video NEEDS to come out!
41. Zayn has a mole on one of his ribs.
42. Zayn’s first kiss was with a girl called Sophie Kirk when he was ten years old. He told Heat: “she was a little bit taller than me, so I had to stand on a brick. She was one of triplets and I kind of dated all three of them.”
43. An ideal date for Zayn would be going out for a meal, watching a movie at the cinema and then returning home to “chill” with some drinks.
44. Zayn’s nickname at school was ‘Z’ (pronounced the UK way “zed” rather than the American “zee”).
45. Zayn is a huge Chris Brown fan and lists ‘All Back’ as one of his most-played songs.
46. Zayn’s uplifting Twitter bio reads: “just close your eyes and enjoy the roller coaster that is life :) x”
47. Zayn lists as intelligence as the most important thing he looks for in a girl.
48. When Harry has his star tattoo done on his arm, ink veteran Zayn held his hand!
49. In early 2012, Zayn was the butt of a hilarious prank played by Harry. When Zayn was asleep, Harry shaved his initials ‘H.S.’ into Zayn’s leg hair. A shocked Zayn commented afterwards “it wasn’t too attractive.”
50. Zayn says that if he was stranded on a desert island the one person he’d like to take with him is Louis (Tomlinson, not Walsh!)
51. Just like Harry, the one artist Zayn would love to collaborate with is Bruno Mars.
52. Zayn came third place in SugarScape’s Hottest Lads of 2011 poll. Niall came first while McFly’s Dougie Poynter was in second spot.
53. Zayn thinks that Justin Bieber is cute! Asked who’s hotter, 1d or Bieber, Zayn responded: “I think Justin Bieber's cute looking, but it would be a bit rude and a bit ignorant for me to say 'me'.”
54. Zayn is notorious for busting some crazy dance moves when he’s out!
55. Despite being known for his trademark quiff, Zayn is quite keen to shave off his hair. In fact, in June 2012 he was close to shaving it off but only changed his mind when his millions of Twitter followers talked him out of it.
56. In July 2012 Zayn splashed out a whopping £32,000 on a second-hand Bentley Continental GT car. Wow!
57. Zayn reckons that One Direction would be great guest judges on The X Factor. He told 110% Pop: “I'm sure we’d would be very interesting to watch actually. We haven't been approached for that yet. If we do get approached I'm sure we'll try and sort out that we're all sitting in one chair, yeah.”
58. The crown tattoo on Zayn’s chest represents the meaning of his surname, ‘king.’
59. Zayn’s mum Tricia cries whenever he leaves home to join the 1D Boys. “When he leaves home I cry at the gate and he says, ‘Mum! I’m not going to war!’ A driver comes for him and I have to stand there and wave back at him crying,” she told the Daily Record.
60. Zayn says One Direction’s phenomenal global success is “beyond my wildest dreams” and “crazy.”
61. Zayn’s favourite track on ‘Up All Night’ is the Kelly Clarkson penned ‘Tell Me A Lie’.
62. Zayn’s three favourite subjects at school were English, art and drama.
63. Zayn was left speechless when a female fan fainted when she met him. He commented to We Love Pop: “Obviously you don’t get to see things like that unless you are The Beatles who have that power, and to see it that close was a bit scary. I didn’t really enjoy her fainting in front of me, however, it was cool to know I could make a girl faint!”
64. Zayn’s X Factor audition number was #165616. He has joked that he’d like to get it tattooed on his arm.
65. The one object Zayn would take with him to a desert island is a huge container full of water. Sensible!
66. On One Direction’s debut album ‘Up All Night’, Zayn has approximately five-and-a-half minutes of solos.
67. Zayn’s favourite album is ‘Graffiti’ by Chris Brown.
68. When Zayn was younger he had two cats called Lily and Lolo.
69. If Zayn could have dinner with anyone dead or alive it would be Michael Jackson.
70. Zayn’s fans mean a LOT to him. He explains: “Fans aren’t just fans – they’re part of my family.”
71. Zayn believes that the two things that make the world go round are “peace and love.” Wise words.
72. For his Hits Radio #1DHQ takeover earlier this year, Zayn’s playlist was: ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, Pitbull ‘Give Me Everything’, Maroon 5 ‘Moves Like Jagger’, One Direction ‘Tell Me A Lie’, Professor Green and Emeli Sandé ‘Read All About It’, Katy Perry ‘Last Friday Night’, Example ‘Kickstarts’, Chris Brown ‘With You’ and One Direction ‘One Thing’.
73. When he gets bored on the tour bus, Zayn keeps himself entertained by playing the Nintendo 3DS game console.
74. Asked to sum up 1D’s debut album ‘Up All Night’ in one word, Zayn said it is “anthemic”.
75. Zayn describes himself as “the shy one” in One Direction. In a VEVO interview, he explained: “Before X Factor I’d never done anything that required me to have to speak in front of cameras or in front of people. The X Factor kinda helped me with that because you’re followed around by cameras and you get used to it.”
76. Zayn never thought he’d make it to the finals of The X Factor. He claims he entered the show “just for the experience.”
77. When Zayn was younger he used to collect comic books. He freely admits, “it was quite a geeky thing to do!”
78. Zayn says he never lies about his girlfriends or past relationships. He told Top of the Pops Magazine: “I’ve always been honest about that. What’s the point of lying? You’ll just get found out and then you’ll look an idiot.”
79. If Zayn had to wear one colour for the rest of his life it would be black.
80. Zayn’s favourite food is chicken.
81. According to Harry, Zayn has kissed the most One Direction fans.
82. Despite pictures on the internet, Zayn denies that him and Harry have kissed on stage. Putting it down to good Photoshopping skills, Zayn said: “I’ve seen photos where they’ve morphed us together to make us look like we’re closer than we really are and about to kiss. We were just trying to talk as obviously we can’t hear each other on stage.”
83. Zayn says the one thing that’s guaranteed to make him smile is talking to his little sister Safaa. Awwww!
84. Zayn sometimes gets fed up of staying in hotels. “We go to all these amazing places and don’t get to see anything, we just see the inside of hotels,” he says.
85. Zayn says the craziest thing he’s ever seen a fan do is hide in a bin to avoid security.
86. Now an international jet-setter, incredibly before he was in One Direction Zayn didn’t even have a passport!
87. Zayn follows 707 people on Twitter (as of 13th July). Celebs he follows include Katy Perry, Aiden Grimshaw, The Saturdays, Jedward, Chris Brown, Peter Andre, The Saturdays and, of course, his 1D bandmates.
88. Just like his 1D bandmates, Zayn can play a musical instrument - the triangle!
89. Zayn loves reading. In fact, one of his most famous quotes is: “There comes a day when you realise turning the page is the best feeling in the world, because you realise there's so much more to the book than the page you were stuck on.”
90. Asked if he ever has nightmares, Zayn said that when he was eight he had a pretty weird one. "I had a dream a giant power ranger was chasing me," he said. Bizarre!
91. Apart from performing live, Zayn says that his favourite part of touring is being on the tour bus!! “My best experience of touring is being on the tour bus, like just chilling out,” Zayn told Orlando radio station Mix105.1. “Like after the show, when you get off the stage and you’re on the tour bus, chilling out, that’s cool.
92. Zayn splits his fans into three categories. He explains: “There’s 3 types of fans. There’s the ones that scream, the ones that want to talk to you and the ones that don’t speak at all.” Which one do YOU fall into?!
93. In spring 2012 Zayn got a new tattoo saying: “be true to who you are.”
94. Zayn wants to get married before the age of 30. Come on Zayn, there’s only 11 years left!!
95. Zayn’s shoe size is 8-and-a-half.
96. On his first X Factor audition, Zayn sang Mario’s ‘Let Me Love You’. The popular R n’ B reached number two in the UK in February 2005.
97. Zayn admits he was a bit of a handful for his parents when he was younger. He told Glamour: "I was a bit of a handful when I was a kid because I was quite hyperactive. Even in the house my mum used to put me in my pram because I was so full-on.
98. Zayn’s first pet was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Tyson.
99. At school, Zayn starred as one of the ultra-cool, leather clad T-Birds in a production of Grease. Much to Zayn’s horror, footage of the performance is all over the Internet! Doh!
100. One of Zayn’s most memorable mottos is: “Never live life in the fear of death, no matter how hard life gets, don’t lose hope.”
