The colour green might have kept Robin safe in the woods, but did you know it could be very dangerous indeed? The colour Scheele’s green was invented in 1775 by a Swedish chemist named Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Scheele combined sodium carbonate, arsenious oxide and copper sulphate to make a vivid yellow-green pigment derivative. It was brighter than other greens that were available, and cheaper to produce. It became a hugely popular shade for wallpapers and interiors – gracing the walls of all the most exclusive residences. Little did they know they’d invited a deadly toxin into their homes. Arsenic-related poisoning was a common cause of death throughout 19th-century Europe. A month before the exiled French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte died, he wrote in his will, ‘My death is premature. I have been assassinated by the English oligopoly and their hired murderer…’

It’s true that, at 51, Napoleon was facing an untimely demise. But perhaps the culprit was not the English oligopoly (whatever that was), but his highly poisonous bathroom wallpaper? Oh, and also his bathtub was lined with lead, which would hardly have helped. In fact, given how chock-full of toxins Napoleon’s home on St. Helena actually was, maybe he was lucky to have survived as long as he did!