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Westlife World Column

Sunday World Newspaper Sunday 26th November 2000

Read All About A Special Year In Our Life

Hi Nicky here,

THIS week, as you'll read elsewhere in today's Sunday World, I have been recuperating at home in Dublin while the other lads have been off in Japan.

I was struck down with tonsillitis while working in London the other week and it really floored me. My doctor insisted that I take time off to rest up because I was a bit run down as well.

My throat was so bad that I had to live on a diet of soup and ice cream for several days. But I'm on the mend now and by the time you read this I'll be on my way to join up with the lads again in Singapore.

OH DEAR! It's that time of the year again when all our little secrets come out in a new Westlife book. Our mate Lise Hand teamed up with us this year to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at life in Westlife.

In Real Life takes you on a whirlwind tour of life on the road and the things we get up to. Lisa even spoke to all our mums in an effort to find out what we're really like.

Anto, our tour manager, tells a few tales about how difficult it is to get us out of bed in the morning when we're working and staying in hotels. He reveals that I'm up first thing, but he has to ring Shane two or three times. And sometimes he has to ring Mark on the hotel phone and the mobile phone at the same time to get him moving.

Missed

I have to admit that Anto has his hands full looking after us. In the book he tells how Mark missed a flight one day because he was just too laid back. We were in Orlando and on the way to Springfield in Missouri.

Anto said, 'C'mon Mark, it's time to go.' But he just sat there thinking he had loads of time and what was all the rush about! Mark eventually strolled up to the gate, only to find that the flight was closed and the walkway to the plane had been taken away.

He called Anto, who was on the plane. Anto said, 'What do you think I can do about it. Just get to Springfield on time for the show. He had to go around the world to catch up with the rest of us.

You'll also discover how we reacted when we found out for the first time that we had created pop history by scoring five number ones with Fool Again. We were on a flight to New York and Bryan rang Louis from the on-board phone.

Jumping

Louis said, 'You've done it, boys, you've done it. You're Number One again.' We all went mad and started jumping up and down cheering. Bryan was yelling, 'We're in the Guinness Book Of Records!' The plane was full of Americans who hadn't a clue who we were and thought we were a bunch of hooligans, but some British people recognised us and started whistling and clapping.

We so wanted to be at home, just for a few hours, to celebrate with our families and friends.

In Real Life follows us through another mad year, so why not hop on board and join the ride.