X Factor and Formation.

 In 2010, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan auditioned as solo candidates for the 7th series of British tele music competition The X Factor. They all made it through to the "bootcamp" stage of the competition, but failed to progress to the "Boys" category. After a suggestion by guest judge Nicole Scherzinger, they were put together to form a boy band at Wembley Arena, London, England on 23 July 2010, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category.

The newly formed boy band had five weeks to gel as a group before the next stage of the competition. The group got together for week-long sessions in a bungalow at the bottom of Styles' stepfather's garden to get to know each other. It was then that Styles came up with the name One Direction.