James Randi

The obituary of James Randi [FT401:28-30] described how he offered a prize of $10,000 for anyone who could produce proof of psychic powers, with himself to be the arbiter of what constituted proof, and that it was never claimed. Now, it is often said that spiritual gifts cannot be used for material gain. If this is true, then any psychic who tried to use his powers to acquire a large financial reward would find that those powers deserted him – so Randi’s money was quite safe.

Gareth J Medway

London

Was I alone in detecting a note of bitterness in Alan Murdie’s obituary for Randi? On the one hand he recognised that Randi was a figure of considerable importance deserving three pages, but at the same time the task of commemorating Randi’s achievements seemed rather to stick in his craw. Is Murdie himself one of the “many others” he cites who considered that Randi was “a pest of the first order” and when he was encased in a block of ice, “wished later he had remained in it”? His claim that Randi was “popular with

a growing number of younger skeptical admirers, for whom [he] appeared to fulfil an emotional need” is certainly a rather backhanded compliment to include in an obituary. Martin Stubbs

London

Alan Murdie responds: “I actually quite liked Randi and admired him in one sense. Indeed, I do rather wish I had met him in person, in the same way I quite liked another American skeptic, the late Bob Baker, another barnstorming though more cerebral critic, regardless of whether or not I agreed with him. One of the interesting things is how so many people demonstrated such a strong and essentially emotional reaction to Randi, one way or the other, which is why I think he deserved a lengthy obituary. One can learn a lot about the sociology of the paranormal and the pop media treatment of it from such characters over the years.