Sir – I was very interested in Reg Little’s ‘Super race’ article (Feature, March 1).

A few years ago my father, who began his career as a Workers’ Education Association and tutor and became Principal of Ruskin College, told me that he received £50 per year for each of his four children — all born in the 1950s. Indeed, he and his colleagues apparently referred to us all as the 50 squids. This amount almost doubled his salary. I suspect this was, in addition to a eugenics move, a means to keep academics sweet during the Cold War. I am very glad to see such issues in the public eye at last.

Katherine Hughes, Temple Cowley