The Sun 1 Virginia Street London E1 9XP

22/8/91

Dear Michael,

Thanks for your latest letter. Believe it or not, I have been trying to get more about your case in the paper, albeit unsuccessfully so far. I don't pretend to know anything about sub-atomic physics, but I am intrigued by your arguments & believe you should be allowed to state your case publically, even if it is then knocked down. I am open-minded on the subject & think many people would be fascinated by it.

As the Randi series is now ending, it seems unlikely that I will get anything in The Sun, but I do have access to other platforms - for example the MENSA magazine. Perhaps I can persuade them to run something. If Britain's brightest minds can't countenance a controversy, there is no hope for us!

Best wishes

Garry

A copy of this handwritten letter is here (GIF file, 99KB).

Article in The Sun, August 8, 1991

Last night's verdict

JAMES RANDI: PSYCHIC INVESTIGATOR, ITV, 9pm

IS James Randi losing touch? I mean to say - dowsers? Is he sure?

Unless you were stranded in the Sahara, could you care two hoots about some wally strolling around with his stick twitching?

We then got a bloke who reckoned he could detect zinc, someone who knew which parts of the studio were bad for your health (the bits nearest to Randi when the Doris Collins Fan Club get hold of him, I reckon).

None of it was remotely as interesting as the subjects Randi hasn't tackled yet - like crystal ball merchants or tarot card readers.

Or more tellingly those scientists who claim there is a rational case for belief in life after death.

Why have their arguments been kept off TV? I hear that comments from astro-physicist Sam Nicholls were cut from the show on mediums. Why?

Could it be that Randi, real name Randall Zwinge, a conjurer and escapologist, is only interested in easy targets?

The only "other side" the great ham makes me reach for is MTV.

Garry Bushell

A copy of this article is here (GIF file, 52KB).

James Randi - His Amazing Role in the Great Psi Media Circus - an article by Sam Nicholls (1991)