PG
28
Everwondered
why…
COLOUR FACTS
Footballs are black
and white?
Let us take a trip down memory lane with this one, shall we?
Once upon a time, footballs (or soccer balls depending on
what you are more familiar with) were once made of inflated
pig bladders wrapped in leather. In 1855, Charles Goodyear
(the inventor who created vulcanized rubber) produced the
first rubber football. White soccer balls became the norm in
1951. Several modifications later, the black and white football
was used for the first time in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
With reference fromtheAdidaswebsite, thisball was called the
Telstar andwas created tohelppeoplesee theballmoreclearly
while watching television. Back then televisions were mostly
black and white and a ball without clear markings would have
beendifficult to identify.
Bubble gum
IS pink?
“It was an accident”. Those were the famous last words of
Walter Diemer, the gentleman responsible for inventing pink
bubble gum, a couple of years before his demise. Diemer
workedas anaccountant for theFleer ChewingGumCompany
inPhiladelphia, however inhis spare time, hewouldexperiment
aroundwith newgumrecipes. His latest recipewas less sticky
than normal chewing gum and stretched more easily. As it
happened, pink was the only food colouring available at the
time, hence his gum gained the famous pink colour which is
commonlyused inmost flavouredgumsnowadays.
First-place ribbons
are blue?
The blue ribbon has largely been used todescribe something
of high quality. In the 1860s, the Blue Riband was a prize
awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by
passenger lines. Prior to that, CordonBleuwas a blue ribbon
wornbya specificgroupof knights. Over time, theblue riband
spellingevolvedtoblue ribbon - acolourused inawarding first-
place toathletesandvariousother competitiveactivities.
matadors use a
red cape?
Whydobulls chargewhen they see red?Bulls andother cattle
are colour blind to red and green. So why do they charge at a
matador waving a red cape with fury? Bulls are just enraged
by the quickmovement of the cape as opposed to its colour.
Thebreedof thebullsused inbull fighting is veryaggressive in
natureandwill chargeat amovingpersondespite thecolourof
their capeor clothes.
