Editing James Randi (section)

==Early life==
Randi was born on August 7, 1928, in [[Toronto]], Canada.<ref name="HWWilson">{{harvnb|Moritz|1987|p=455}}</ref> He was the son of Marie Alice ({{née|Paradis}}; 1906–1987) and George Randall Zwinge (1903–1967), an executive at Bell Telephone Company. He was of French, Danish and Austrian descent.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://medium.com/humanist-voices/an-interview-with-james-randi-part-one-b74c1bd61967|title = An Interview with James Randi (Part One)|date = April 2018|access-date = April 7, 2022|archive-date = April 7, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220407182901/https://medium.com/humanist-voices/an-interview-with-james-randi-part-one-b74c1bd61967|url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="HWWilson" /> He had a younger brother and sister.<ref name="YaeId">{{cite web|url=http://archive.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/192-swift-may#i3|title=How Wrong Can You Get?|last=Randi|first=James|date=May 9, 2008|work=Swift|publisher=JREF|type=Blog|access-date=June 10, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921213014/http://archive.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/192-swift-may#i3|archive-date=September 21, 2016}}</ref> He took up [[magic (illusion)|magic]] after seeing [[Harry Blackstone Sr.]]<ref name="V9uXz">{{YouTube|id=wJMTyK0VfdY|title=James Randi at the Magic Castle: In Conversation with Max Maven|link=no}}</ref> and reading conjuring books while spending 13 months in a [[Orthopedic cast|body cast]] following a bicycle accident. He confounded doctors, who expected he would never walk again.<ref name="TorontoStar1986">{{cite news|title=The Amazing Randi|first=Patricia|last=Orwen|url=http://zammoth-jamesrandi.blogspot.com/|newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]|publisher=[[Torstar]] Corporation|date=August 23, 1986|access-date=October 9, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106183159/http://zammoth-jamesrandi.blogspot.com/|archive-date=November 6, 2013}}</ref> He often skipped classes, and at 17, dropped out of high school to perform as a conjurer in a carnival roadshow.<ref name="RrmIc">{{cite news|title=The 'quack' hunter|first=Jeanne|last=Malmgren|others=''Times'' researcher Barbara Oliver contributed to this report.|url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/04/14/the-quack-hunter/|newspaper=[[Tampa Bay Times]]|date=April 14, 1998|access-date=June 5, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301011756/http://www.sptimes.com/Floridian/41498/The__quack__hunter.html|archive-date=March 1, 2011}}</ref> He practiced as a [[Mentalism|mentalist]] in local nightclubs and at Toronto's [[Canadian National Exhibition]] and wrote for [[Montreal]]'s tabloid press.<ref name="Colombo">{{harvnb|Colombo|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OXP_OpQna4gC&pg=PA182 182]}}</ref> As a teenager, he stumbled upon a church where the pastor claimed to read minds. When Randi interrupted the performance and showed the parishioners how the trick worked, the pastor's wife called the police and Randi spent four hours in a jail cell. This inspired his career as a scientific skeptic.<ref name="nwfwV">{{cite web|last=Limbong|first=Andrew|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926717787/amazing-escape-artist-magician-and-skeptic-james-randi-dead-at-92|title='Amazing' Escape Artist, Magician, And Skeptic James Randi Dead At 92|work=[[NPR]]|date=October 22, 2020|access-date=October 23, 2020|archive-date=October 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023115839/https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926717787/amazing-escape-artist-magician-and-skeptic-james-randi-dead-at-92|url-status=live}}</ref>

In his 20s, Randi posed as an [[astrologer]], and to establish that they merely were doing simple tricks, he briefly wrote an astrological column in the Canadian tabloid ''[[Globe (tabloid)|Midnight]]'' under the name "Zo-ran" by simply shuffling up items from newspaper astrology columns and pasting them randomly into a column.<ref name="ZlEwu">{{harvnb|Randi|1982c|pp=230–231}}. Randi reprints two newspaper columns from the ''[[Toronto Telegram|Toronto Evening Telegram]]'' of August 28, 1950, and August 14, 1950, by Wessely Hicks about Randall Zwinge's psychic predictions. The earlier column states, "Mr. Zwinge said he first became aware that he possessed Extra Sensory Perception when he was nine years old."</ref><ref name="A1Uli">{{harvnb|Randi|1982a|pp=61–62}}</ref> In his 30s, Randi worked in the UK, Europe, [[Philippines|Philippine]] nightclubs, and Japan.<ref name="bXdwL">{{cite journal|last=Randi|first=James|date=May 19, 2006|title=Filipino Justice|journal=Swift|type=Newsletter|access-date=June 15, 2009|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-05/051906sylvia.html#i13|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091007175115/http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-05/051906sylvia.html#i13|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 7, 2009}}</ref> He witnessed many tricks that were presented as being supernatural. One of his earliest reported experiences was that of seeing an [[Evangelism|evangelist]] using a version of the "[[billet reading|one-ahead]]"<ref name="Time01">{{cite magazine|title=Fighting Against Flimflam|first=Leon|last=Jaroff|author-link=Leon Jaroff|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,149448,00.html|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=June 24, 2001|access-date=June 5, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930142033/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,149448,00.html?iid=chix-sphere|archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> technique to convince churchgoers of his [[divinity|divine]] powers.<ref name="Taft">{{cite news| first=Philip B. Jr. |last=Taft|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/05/nyregion/a-charlatan-in-pursuit-of-truth.html|title=A Charlatan in Pursuit of Truth|work=The New York Times|date=July 5, 1981|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930035857/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/05/nyregion/a-charlatan-in-pursuit-of-truth.html|archive-date=September 30, 2017}}</ref>