Selective Breeding

By 1983, Graham’s super sperm bank was reputed to have 19 repeat genius donors. Three were former Nobel Prize winners for science and all but one was anonymous, Dr. William B. Shockley. Dr. Shockley of Stanford University was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1956.

Already in his seventies, Shockley said at the time: "I welcome this opportunity to be identified with this important cause. But I want to make it clear also that I don't regard myself as a perfect human being or the ideal candidate. I'm not proposing to make supermen."

Graham was frustrated that few Nobel peers had donated. Even those that had were soon dropped because they were too old to produce vigorous seed. He began to cast his net wider, approaching rising young scientists from universities across California. He also began contacting Olympic gold medal winners and dashing entrepreneurs in a bid to broaden his remit.

Though the donor’s identities were kept secret, other information was available. This included: · weight, height, age · colour of eyes, skin, and hair · various hereditary characteristics, including information on existing offspring · most importantly an IQ of around 180 (that’s approximately 20 people out of the entire British population) Graham also wrote his own comments for each specimen such as: "A very famous scientist. A mover and shaker. And almost a superman." The donors were only known by colour-coded epithets, like Mr. Fuchsia, Mr. White, and Mr. Orange.

If the men’s criteria were tough, the female side of Graham’s bargain was no less rigorous. They had to be married to an infertile man. They were also expected to be caring parents, with plenty of money to provide the right environments for his super-kids to flourish. Graham advertised for mothers in a Mensa magazine. Only carefully selected women wishing to increase their chances of producing exceptional children would be inseminated. In addition, women who received the sperm agreed to keep Graham informed about their pregnancies and their child’s subsequent development. As many as 20 ‘genius kids’ were being born each year by the early 1990s.