Meet the superfans

‘I never grew out of them’

Anita Prosser, 52, is a fitness instructor, and lives in Kingston upon Thames with her two teenage children.

I first saw Duran Duran on Top of the Pops in 1981, when I was 10. They sang Planet Earth, and I thought they looked beautiful with their New Romantic floppy hair and pirate shirts. I was smitten from that moment onwards and blew all my pocket money on the single. After that, every time there was a new release, I made my mum and dad drive me a dozen miles to a record shop where sales counted towards the pop charts.

At 13, I went to the hairdresser clutching a picture of bass guitarist John Taylor, my favourite, and said, ‘I want that.’ My waist-long hair was chopped, and I emerged with a mullet like my heartthrob. But it didn’t stop there. I saved up to see the band play every time there was a tour and spent ages hanging round stage doors to get a glimpse of my idols. Even after the original line-up did their final concert for Live Aid, I stuck with them. I just never grew out of them.

When the internet arrived, I realised it wasn’t just me who was besotted with the band. I made friends from around the world in fan chat rooms. In 2005, when I was 34, I won the band’s handprints in concrete. I needed help to heave the slab into my car, then again when my long-suffering parents let me put it in their garden because I lived in a flat. Piles of my band merchandise still live in their attic.

When my son Maxim was three, he called All You Need Is Now the ‘jumping album’ because we’d bounce around madly on his trampoline with it playing. Every moment of my life has a memory attached to a Duran Duran album.

Still a fan in my 40s, I went along to a studio in London’s Battersea, where I’d heard they were recording. I was thrilled when they stopped for a chat and photos. I even got a kiss from singer Simon Le Bon! Last May, I went to see Duran Duran at the O2 in London. I totted it up and realised it was the 96th time I’d seen them play. I enjoyed it just as much as when I was that schoolgirl with a John Taylor haircut.

Their songs take me back to being young, without a care in the world, and as long as they’re making music, I’ll be there to hear it.

What creates a lasting passion?

Psychologist Susan Quilliam explains: ‘Anita sees “beautiful”