THE ANGLOSPHERIC DIFFERENCE:

While he enjoyed amazing audiences with his feats of escapology and sleight of hand, Randi had no time for so-called psychics and faith healers, exposing numerous fraudsters with his inside knowledge of a magician's tricks.

As public fascination with the paranormal grew in the 1970s, Randi, along with sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov and astronomer Carl Sagan, co-founded what is now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry to investigate claims of paranormal phenomena and promote scientific inquiry.

One of his most famous targets was Israeli self-professed psychic Uri Geller, who claimed to be able to bend spoons with the power of his mind.

In 1973 Johnny Carson invited Geller on "The Tonight Show" and asked him to demonstrate his powers on a range of props but the flustered Geller was unable to, claiming he "didn't feel strong."

Ahead of the show, the skeptical Carson, who had been a magician himself, had asked Randi for advice to expose any trickery.

"I told them to provide their own props and not to let Geller or his people anywhere near them," Randi said.

On a radio show in 1964 Randi had offered $1,000 to anyone who could show scientific evidence of paranormal powers.

The sum grew over the years and through his James Randi Educational Foundation, the debunker offered $1 million to anyone who could demonstrate evidence of paranormal abilities under scientific scrutiny.

"The difference between them and me," Randi told The New York Times in July 1981, "is that I admit that I'm a charlatan. They don't. I don't have time for things that go bump in the night."

In 1980s Randi also famously exposed so-called faith healer Peter Popoff, showing that the televangelist was secretly using a radio earpiece to receive specific information about members of the congregation and their illnesses which he then claimed was revealed to him by God.

Tweet   @brothersjudd