W old Newton is a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire County, England. It is chiefly famous for a meteorite which struck near it in 1795, the exact location of impact being marked by a monument which tourists, or anybody else, may see now. At the moment it struck, two large coaches with fourteen passengers and four coachmen were within a few yards of it. All were exposed to the ionization of the accompanying meteorites. The descendants of all those in or on the coaches include an extraordinary number of great crime fighters, scientists, and explorers. So many, in fact, that the only reasonable explanation is that the meteorite caused a beneficial mutation of genes in those exposed.

The mutated genes were reinforced, kept from being lost, by the inbreeding of the descendants of those present at Wold Newton. Marriages of cousins were, of course, common among the British nobility and gentry. Moreover, most of the passengers came of stock which had been producing extraordinary men and women for many generations. Some of their descendants were more than extraordinary; they bordered on, and in some cases attained, the status of superman.

—“The Fabulous Family Tree of Doc Savage (Another Excursion into Creative Mythography)”

Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life , Philip José Farmer

“Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”

—Lady Catherine de Bourgh to Elizabeth Bennet

Pride and Prejudice , Jane Austen

Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume “H” in his encyclopaedia of reference. “‘Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.’—half the alphabet! . . . Married Edith, daughter of Sir Charles Appledore, 1888. Heir and only child, Lord Saltire . . . Well, well, this man is certainly one of the greatest subjects of the Crown!”

—“The Adventure of the Priory School”

The Return of Sherlock Holmes , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“I would warn your Grace, however, that the continued presence of Mr. James Wilder in your household can only lead to misfortune.”

“I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled that he shall leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune in Australia.”

“In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that any unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence, I would suggest that you make such amends as you can to the Duchess, and that you try to resume those relations which have been so unhappily interrupted.”

—“The Adventure of the Priory School”

The Return of Sherlock Holmes , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

James Wilder’s son, born off the shore of Andros Island, the Bahamas, was to become very famous.

—“A Case of a Case of Identity Recased, or, The Grey Eyes Have It”

Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke , Philip José Farmer