Mauve is the story of a man who invented a colour, and in the process transformed the world around him.

Before 1856, the colour in our lives derived from animals, minerals or plants. Clothing, paint, print - their reds and blacks came from insects or molluscs, roots or leaves, and dyeing was painstaking and expensive. One royal procession required ten million dead insects. But in 1856 a chemist called William Perkin discovered a way to mass-produce colour in a factory.

Perkin is honoured with the odd plaque and bust in colleges and chemistry clubs, but is otherwise a forgotten man. This is his story, and the story of how the reputation of a pioneering genius endures. Above all, it is a fascinating tale of how the birth of a colour set in motion an extraordinary scientific leap forward that would change the world forever.