I know we’ve all been worrying about Zayn Malik. It’s still only been a week or so since the One Direction star decided he’d had enough of being in the world’s most successful pop band and still the clamour for answers continues.

Why did he go? Who caused the rift? Can Harry Styles and the rest continue without him? Will Perrie go through with the marriage? And what will Zayn do next?

Actually, scrap that last one because we know the answer to that. He’d been going to get over the pain of the 1D split by releasing his first record as a solo singer. And this is where Watford comes into the equation.

Because Zayn, poor troubled, bequiffed Zayn, has found an answer to his woes in the shape of a fella from West Watford. Yup, salvation has reared its head thanks to Naughty Boy.

What a star he is. Shahid Khan grew up in West Watford, went to Westfield School and has never been heard to say a bad word about his home town. He’s not just a fantastically talented musician, but the man is also quite the ambassador for Watford.

If you need proof, look on YouTube and dig out a short film the BBC’s Asian Network made about Naughty Boy 18 months ago.

He was already a bit of a star by then, but you get to see his dad butting into the interview, plenty of nerves from Naughty Boy, and also the sheer pride he takes in the baby photo that appeared in the Watford Observer.

Maybe he’s different away from the cameras, but I suspect not. Naughty Boy just doesn’t seem all that, well, naughty, but he bursts with affection about his boyhood home.

This is the pop star who once got mobbed by kids in a West Watford fish and chip shop and seems to have loved every moment.

To be fair, they were kids from his old school and the chippy was a short walk from his home. If you can’t revel in celebrity at that moment, then when can you?

There are really quite a lot of famous Watfordians and what celebrities we do have would appear to have something about them.

Take Nick Leeson, who I spoke to just a few weeks ago - well, that was quite some transition from Leavesden schoolboy to bringing down a bank. Vinnie Jones came from the same area, went to the same school and has, in his own way, wreaked even more damage around the world.

Anthony Joshua won boxing gold, was briefly claimed by Finchley but told me at the Olympics he was "definitely, 100 per cent for Watford". That’s why we’ve got his golden postbox.

We’ve had Grant Shapps, Conservative Party politician and Watford Grammar School alumnus, one-time creative businessman, Geoffrey de Havilland (he of the warplanes), and then there’s Geri Halliwell, who may well be the most famous person ever to come from these streets. Is there a country in the world where Ginger Spice is unknown? And wouldn’t the name Watford Spice have been any better?

Michael Bentine grew up in Folkstone but was born in Watford. So was Gareth Southgate and so, too, Mo Mowlam, who appeared into this world at 43 King Street.

Bradley Walsh comes from Leavesden and 1970s stars Terry Scott and Cyril Fletcher were both Watford folk.

I haven’t even mentioned cricketers such as Steve Finn and Mark Ilott, or Steve Easterbrook, the man in charge of every McDonald’s in the world.

For a town of fewer than 100,000 people, that’s a pretty impressive hit rate, and a rather pleasingly wide range of celebrities.

No, we don’t appear to have created a Nobel Prize winner yet, but we do have most other things covered. And there will only ever be five Spice Girls - and we’ve got one of them.

But Naughty Boy is right up there with the best of them. Not only is he on the cusp of being very famous indeed, but he’s also got that lingering affection for his town and its people.

And a town as diverse as Watford should not just be represented by decades of notable white people; it needs heroes from all its communities.

Naughty Boy isn’t just a music producer but also a symbol of success and level-headedness.

So whatever else Zayn Malik has got right and wrong (and if I’m frank, my One Direction knowledge isn’t all that good) he does seem to have made a smart move in heading towards the Naughty One. In a crisis, you can, surely, trust a Watfordian.

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