Think of a village scene from the Middle Ages.

Absorb the sights, the smells, the sounds.

What are people wearing?

What are they doing?

What do their buildings look like?

Now consider how much of what you're imagining is based on real history and how much of it

might be completely false, informed only by popular fiction.

Today's pop quiz will set you straight.

It's coming up next on Skeptoid.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of James the Amazing Randy, 1928-2020, mentor, hero,

and friend.

It may sound cliche, but it's absolutely true.

Skeptoid and your other favorite skeptical podcasts and programming would not be here

if it wasn't for Randy.

He was the one-time professional magician but later full-time exposure of charlatans

and frauds who made such an impact on so many of us.

In 2006, I started Skeptoid, and there's one reason.

Randy was the compass that pointed the direction I took my life.

As a magician, he toured the world, escaping from straight jackets while hanging upside-down

from helicopters, in all manner of defiances of death.

But he was also a great defender of the downtrodden.

At times, he risked life and limb for real, in his refusal to perform for segregated audiences

...