It has been associated with death and negativity throughout history. But without black, you wouldn’t be reading this, fashion would lose its power to flatter – and there’s only one cat that’s lucky, isn’t there?

The colour white is loaded with meaning. From white weddings to bleached lab coats and blank sheets of paper, it is found everywhere. But where did it begin, and is it even a colour at all?

From the earliest daubs of our ancestors 17,000 years ago to the red carpet, there are plenty of reasons why one colour rules supreme

For a colour that appears everywhere in nature, green has been notoriously hard for artists and dyers to perfect – as Napoleon is said to have found to his cost

The colour blue has long been associated with the rich and divine, from the ancient Egyptians who discovered it to the Virgin Mary – though it is a little more accessible today

The rich history of the colour purple charts a surprise discovery, dye made from the mucous of sea snails, and royal restrictions on who could wear this sought after colour at the end of the spectrum