Policeman Paul Taylor melted hearts the world over when he was filmed dancing and linking arms with young fans at Sunday’s One Love Manchester.
The 50-year-old father-of-two told People he hadn’t expected anything to come of it, he was just having a laugh with some young kids.
Watch the most heartwarming moments from One Love Manchester.
“I was approached by these two girls — I think they were sisters about 7 or 8 years old. They asked for a photograph, which I was more than happy to do,” he said.
“Then it was a case of them saying ‘Now you’re going to dance with us!’ You can’t say no – I was more than happy.”
“I didn’t realize anything would come of it, and wasn’t aware that it had been filmed,” he added.
The police constable was one of many police filmed getting into the spirit of the day.
Their presence was undoubtedly to reassure concert-goers in the wake of the horrific Manchester attack less than two weeks earlier, but it was their joie de vivre which really put everyone at peace.
Taylor explained the crowd of about 45,000 had “a pretty amazing atmosphere”.
“It’s not very often as a police officer you get to witness that and work on something like that. There is another side to it too – it shows that the police have a human side,” said Taylor.
“We do care about what we do, and the fact that we put a smile on peoples’ faces, I am more than happy to do that.”
Taylor normally works as a response officer almost 180km away, but is one of the many that’s been drafted into the city while Manchester police remained overstrained since the suicide bombing.
Have a geez of his delightfully North-East accent here.
Taylor’s still in shock over just how much publicity the dance got, but he’s just glad he was able to put a smile on the faces of those affected by the blast.
“It is very difficult for the families who are affected by it. But I hope that people did enjoy themselves. And with us going to reassure them and make sure that they are safe so they can enjoy themselves – that was the main thing.”
“I briefly went to bed and woke up to see I had loads of missed calls and texts,” he said.
And then his 23-year-old son Ryan, who’s in Tenerife, sent him the most British text imaginable.
“He said, ‘That was never you on the telly last night was it?’ I had to tell him yes!”
“I hope it shows we have a human side. But I probably need to work on my moves – what do they call it, daddy- dancing?”
