The Royal Purple Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bishops

This is because the price of the dye purple was once so enormously expensive that only the wealthy could afford it. Originally, the colour was claimed exclusively by royalty, particularly Roman Emperors, and the common folk were banned from wearing it (as if they could afford it anyway). Later on in the history of mankind, the colour began to be worn by magistrates and then, in particular, by Catholic bishops because the colour is associated with piety and penitence. Priests often wore touches of purple during the times they were hearing confessions. Today the colour is commonly associated with royalty and with the Christian life.

It is sometimes still referred to today as the royal purple.

Answer: Sea snails

This dye first began to be made by the citizens of the cities of Sidon and Tyre, and the process to obtain same was long and difficult. It cost an enormous amount of time and effort to produce it, with an associated price, and the colour became known as Tyrian purple. Thousands of the little snails had to be first found and then removed from their shells.

They were then soaked for a time before a minute gland was removed from each of their bodies. Following this, the glands were squashed and the few drops of juice obtained carefully kept until enough was obtained to fill a small container.

When exposed to sunlight, this juice turned white, then yellow, green, violet and a deep red which was allowed to stay in the sun until it deepened into the required shade.

When fabrics were dyed with this precious substance, the colour remained bright, lovely and long-lasting.

Answer: They dyed the tails of their horses

How insulting for the little sea-snails. Their lives were sacrificed to pretty up the bottoms of horses. One presumes this had some significance, but why is hard to find. One is inclined to think that purple manes would have been a little less demeaning for the snails somehow. Homer tells us that the warrior Ajax wore a purple belt as well.

It also mentions in the "Odyssey" that Odysseus had purple blankets for his bed. In 2008, just to illustrate how precious this substance really was, German chemist Paul Friedander, when trying to reproduce the ancient skill of obtaining it, used 12,000 sea snails to obtain 1.4 ounces of the dye.

Answer: It was the work of the devil

Lord bless us, this was indeed the case. They believed that mixing red and blue to produce a cloth dyed purple was going against the laws of nature, was in fact diabolical and would bring the wrath of God down upon their heads. Accordingly, people who dyed red fabric and those who dyed blue fabric had to work in different establishments and be part of different guilds. Purple dyes were produced eventually during this era by utilising the fruit of the blackberry. Though this certainly produced a lovely purple shade for cloth, it faded when exposed to sunlight or when washed. Now that is definitely diabolical.

Answer: English

Perkin didn't have that aim in mind when he set to work in his laboratory. Instead, he was trying to manufacture a synthetic quinine which was then being manufactured from the bark of the Cinchona tree from Peru. In the 19th century, when the Peruvian and other South American country leaders realised how sought after this product was to combat the effects of malaria among Europeans, the export of the saplings and the tree seeds was outlawed, thus setting up the need for a synthetic replacement. This wasn't found until 1944 by two American chemists.

In the meantime, chemists worked long and hard in an attempt to achieve this goal. William Henry Perkin was striving to do the same in 1856 when instead he created his famous aniline dye. This produced a brilliant substitute for the previously exorbitantly priced natural method of creating purple dye.

Answer: Unorthodox Christian religious minorities

This purple concentration camp badge was used to identify non-orthodox religious followers such as Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists, and anyone, such as pacifists, who spoke out against the Nazis and the war effort or refused to fight.

The badges were sewn onto the jackets or shirts of the detainees. One must, after all, believe in an orthodox religion when going about the business of exterminating people.

Answer: South Africa

This protest, with its anti-apartheid theme, was held in Cape Town, South Africa early in September 1989. While trying to quell the protestors and break up the marchers who were heading towards Parliament House, police fired cannons, filled with purple dye at the crowds.

The aim of the dye was to mark protestors for later identification. The force of the purple jet shooting out of the cannons made a terrible mess, dyed vehicles, stained buildings up to four stories high, broke windows, swept protestors off their feet, and probably did far more harm than good.

It led to a well known slogan "The purple shall govern" appearing on the walls of public building right throughout the city for months afterwards. One leading newspaper of the time later sarcastically suggested later of the entire purple debacle that "Perhaps the next time they (the police) use their water cannon, they would like to consult with their voters as to which colour is fashionable".

Answer: Purple ties

Why, I hear you ask? Because they believed, in all seriousness, that a purple tie conveyed a less aggressive impression than a red tie, while still retaining the impression of assertiveness and confidence. Also, they believed that it conveyed a more active impression than a blue tie, but brought with it an impression of peace and cooperation.

It also went altogether quite nicely with the blue suits most of these leading figures wore they decided. All this from a purple tie, ladies and gentlemen. Who in the blue - or red or purple - blazes takes notice of the colour tie they're wearing in the first place?

Answer: Attracts pollinating insects

Anthocyanin is found in the leaves, roots, stems or fruit of food plants such as grapes, eggplants, various other purple fruits or vegetables, and in plants such as pansies, some leaves of trees, irises, asters, wisteria, lavender and so on. It not only protects these plants from the harmful wavelengths of light, but it also has properties which attract pollinating insects to its host bodies.

Answer: Dominica

The Imperial Amazon parrot, also known as the Sisserou parrot, features on the national flag of Dominica, and is found in no other country in the Caribbean. This lovely creature has dark green, black-tipped upper feathers, touches of red near its wings, a dark blue and purple head, and an exquisite deep shade of purple on its chest, stomach and throat.

It stays with its mate all its life and is often known to grieve to death on the loss of its partner. That's so lovely and romantic. This beautiful bird's image is super-imposed in the centre of the Dominican flag, above a dark green background on which is placed a yellow, black and white cross. Sadly it is in dire threat of extinction with only some 300 birds left on the island. What a tragedy.