Original version

BBC World Service Online

Discovery

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Discovery: The Colour Purple

Magazines & Reviews

The Colour Purple

27/07/2015 GMT

BBC World Service - Discovery, The Colour PurpleSearch BBC

How William Perkin brought purple to the people in Victorian London

How a young experimenter, William Perkin brought the colour purple to the people in Victorian London, leading to more than just colourful crinolines.

In 1856, a teenager experimenting at home accidentally made a colour that was more gaudy and garish than anything that had gone before. William Perkin was messing about at home, trying to make the anti-malarial Quinine - but his experiment went wrong. Instead he made a purple dye that took Victorian London by storm. Philip Ball tells the story of this famous stroke of serendipity. Laurence Llewelyn- Bowen describes the fashion sensation that ensued and chemist, Andrea Sella tells how Perkin's purple prompted the creation of much more than colourful crinolines. 

(Photo: William Henry Perkin (1838-1907), British chemist. Credit: Science Photo Library)

BBC World Service

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Discovery

The Colour Purple

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service