diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index bba978e4..6c79f173 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 * flea is now standardised measurements, and flea_raw is the original units
 * TeachingDemos removed as a Suggests, and replaced with aplpack for drawing Chernoff faces
 * addition of a pre-specified ellipse can be added to the 2D display
+* palette can now be a vector of values
 
 # tourr 1.1.0 
 
diff --git a/R/util.r b/R/util.r
index c2290cd4..dce0ea12 100644
--- a/R/util.r
+++ b/R/util.r
@@ -122,7 +122,14 @@ areColors <- function(x) {
 #' @export
 mapColors <- function(x, palette) {
   n <- length(unique(x))
-  pal <- grDevices::hcl.colors(n, palette=palette)
+  # Handle manual colour setting
+  if (length(palette) > 1) {
+    stopifnot(length(palette) == n)
+    pal <- palette
+  }
+  else {
+    pal <- grDevices::hcl.colors(n, palette=palette)
+  }
   pal[as.numeric(as.factor(x))]
 }