Brown dye used to come from the Logwood tree. Apparently it was costly and often sold fraudulently. An English gent could pay a lot for his tree, see it arrive at the docks looking a lovely brown, only then to find the colour wash off once he’d got it home. Who’d have thought eh!
Charcol was accidentally discovered by Percy Coates who was lying in front of the fire and noticed that the willow sticks he had thrown on to burn had turned to ashen sticks. The rest is history!
