Over The Rainbow Stephen Westland

You'll be green with envy if you miss this podcast all about the colour green. Malachite was one of the earliest green pigments and a substantial source was the Great Orme in North Wales (the largest prehistoric mine in the world). Green is also the most dangerous of colours. Scheele's Green may even have killed Napoleon. The team also discuss the association of green with the devil and with Ireland. The use of colour in movies is also discussed and the use of green in The Wizard of Oz is of particular interest. And did you know that the Statue of Liberty was not always green? You do now. But listen to the podcast for the full story.

The Over The Rainbow team discuss the colour yellow. Yellow Ochre was one of the earliest pigments used by mankind. Orpiment was also widely used in antiquity despite it being based on arsenic and being poisonous. Yellow has also long been an important colour culturally. The Greeks - starting from Empedocles - believed that the world consisted of four elements; each of the elements was associated with a colour. Yellow (or a yellow-green colour) was associated with earth; white with air, black with water and red with fire. This tetradic thinking about 4 special colours continued until the 14th or 15th Century; the idea of three special colours is a relatively recent idea. Yellow is probably the least favourite colour and invokes quite different reactions in different people. It is, perhaps, the marmite of colours.

Steve, Helen and Huw tell you everything they know about the colour blue. Feeling blue? Then this podcast is just for you. Early naturally occurring blue pigments were hard to come by. However, ultramarine was a rare exception, made by grinding the mineral lapis lazuli. It was the finest and most expensive blue pigment and was often used symbolically to colour the robes of important people - such as The Virgin Mary - in Renaissance paintings. But where did the phrase feeling blue come from? Perhaps the association started when people noticed that we would turn a little blue in the face if we couldn't breathe. The history of the blue riband event is traced back to Henry VIII and the Order of the Holy Spirit and the knights with their Cordon Bleu. The first new blue pigment in 200 years - YInMn Blue - is discussed. Blue is perhaps the most popular colour in the world; is this because it reminds of things that we like? Blue is a relaxing colour than can help us sleep; but at the same time blue light can keep us awake at night and disturb our sleep. The meanings of blue are many of course; but in the west it is often seen as the colour of trust.

The Over The Rainbow team kick off The Colour of ... series with red - the colour of love. It was one of the earliest naturally occurring colorants of course; red ochre. Red ochre was used extensively in cave paintings 60,000 years ago or more. These incredible and ancient works of art remain because of the lack of light in these environments. This contrasts with the statues of Ancient Greece and Rome which were gaudily coloured at their time of creation but have faded over the years to the extent that many people mistakenly believed they were designed to be white! Cochineal was another early colorant, made from the crushed bodies of insects but used widely as a food colorant (it is even still used today). Culturally red can mean many things of course and some reasons for these associations are discussed. The historical basis of the term 'red light district' is also explored. On balance, research seems to show that people are viewed as being more attractive if they wear red. Red may be the colour of love, but does t really make the heart beat faster? Research also points to sporting teams that wear red outperforming teams that wear blue. But why is this? 

In the last of the series the team discuss colour in fashion are joined by fashionista Caroline. Listen to this podcast if you want to find out why so many top fashion designers use colour in an extravagant way in their designs but personally wear black. Is it because they are afraid of colour? The team briefly discuss David Batchelor's book Chromophobia. The ethics of fast fashion are explored and a future in which people readily buy virtual clothes may be coming. Or maybe we will rent our clothes in the future. The future may be closer than you think. And a great opportunity to see the show out with a snippet from Pretty in Pink by The Psychedelic Furs. 

John Dalton was the first person to systematically explore colour blindness (more appropriately called colour deficiency since the vast majority of people with this condition can see colour but have poor colour discrimination. He presented a famous paper - Extraordinary facts about colour vision - in Manchester in the 1790s. We now know that whilst most of us are trichromats (having three types of cones in our retina) some people are dichromats (with only two cone classes) or anomalous trichromats. Recently we have discovered that some people are even tetrachromats and might have exception colour discrimination. This podcast is all about colour blindness.