One popular account traces the phrase back to 1837 in Melton Mowbray, England. The Marquis of Waterford, a known troublemaker of his time, along with his friends, supposedly went on a night of excessive drinking and vandalism in the town. During their escapade, they literally painted several buildings with red paint. This wild act led to the coining of the phrase "paint the town red," symbolizing a night of raucous, unrestrained revelry.