Dead Pool 2nd November 2025

We have a few points to award this week, so let’s dole them out. 50 points to Ceri and Mazurn for guessing that June Lockhart would die this year. Also we need to award 57 points to Neil, Mark, Nicki H, Paul G, Abi, Shân and Julia on the passing of Prunella Scales; however both Nickie O’H and Rachel McG get 157 points for listing her as their Woman.

I’ve also had time to go through the points, there were a few anomalies which I have adjusted. Abi is the one to beat this year, she’s doing extremely well with 538 points! Well done everyone!

Look Who You Could Have Had:

June Lockhart, 100, American actress (Lost in Space, Lassie, Petticoat Junction).
Tony Adams, 84, Welsh actor (Crossroads, Doctor Who, General Hospital).
Björn Andrésen, 70, Swedish actor (Death in Venice, Midsommar, Shelley) and musician.
Prunella Scales, 93, English actress (Fawlty Towers, A Question of Attribution, Howards End).
Maria Riva, 100, German-born American actress (The Scarlet Empress, The Burning Glass, Scrooged). The only child of Marlene Dietrich.
Adam Greenberg, 88, Israeli-American cinematographer (The Terminator, Ghost, Rush Hour).
Scott Sorry, 47, American rock musician and songwriter (The Wildhearts, Sorry and the Sinatras, Amen), brain cancer.
Peter Watkins, 90, English filmmaker (The War Game, Punishment Park, Resan).
Tchéky Karyo, 72, Turkish-born French actor (The Missing, La Femme Nikita, La Balance), cancer.
Willie Young, 73, Scottish footballer (Aberdeen, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest).
Faruk Fatih Özer, 31, Turkish cryptocurrency trader and convicted fraudster, founder of Thodex, suicide by hanging.

In Other News

A 31-year-old bodybuilder has died of a stroke following the passing of his beloved cat, his heartbroken mother has revealed. Ricardo Nolasco dos Santos died last week in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The strongman, better known as Kadu Santos, was an 11-times bodybuilding champion and two-times overall champion of a prestigious regional Muscle Contest competition. Known for his punishing gym routines, he also showed off his bulging biceps to his 13,000 followers on Instagram where he also offered advice on how to keep in shape. Santos’ mother, Iva Nolasco, said the stroke he suffered led to a lung infection, adding that the strongman’s health problems were complicated by a congenital defect. He was filmed in July going down on one knee on stage to propose to his partner Sabrina Wollman after a four-year romance, who he started dating in August 2021. Lifting the veil of mystery that had been hanging over the death of Santos, Iva told followers in a social media post he had experienced a week of ’emotional distress’ following Baku’s death. Saying he fell ill on October 4th, sparking a two-week fight for life in hospital, she added: ‘His blood pressure rose and he decided to go out for dinner with his partner and friends to try to relax a bit. He complained of a headache, started having seizures and then suffered the stroke. In hospital he was diagnosed with a brain lesion where the haemorrhage had occurred.’ Revealing Santos also aspirated fluid during the seizure, which caused a lung infection, Iva, who is herself a regular gym user, added: ‘He was born with a bicuspid heart valve instead of a tricuspid one. With the effort for the lungs, the heart became insufficient.’ Santos’ family announced his death on social media but had not previously disclosed any details about his two-week fight for life and the reasons for his passing.

The racing world has been plunged into mourning following the tragic death of 19-year-old jockey Tommie Jakes at his home near Newmarket. Widely considered one of the most promising young riders around, Jakes got his first winner at 16 on board a horse four years his junior. The apprentice rider was also a much-loved member of the weighing room, and rode for top trainer George Boughey. An IJF/PJA joint-statement read: ‘It is with deep sadness that we report the death of licensed apprentice jockey Tommie Jakes, 19, who tragically died at home this morning near Newmarket. Tommie was a much-loved son and brother, and a popular member of George Boughey’s racing team. His parents Jeremy and Tonie ask that their privacy is respected at this terrible time.’ Jakes’ final race was only on Wednesday afternoon at Nottingham, when he partnered the Ismail Mohammed-trained Guarantee to finish seventh of nine runners as a 125-1 outsider. Jose Santos, assistant to Mohammed, said: ‘We’re really shocked. It’s hard to believe. I feel completely empty as he rode out for us twice a week and always seemed happy and positive. He never showed any signs of having any kind of problems. I know he didn’t smoke, I know he didn’t do drugs or drink, and for everyone in the yard it’s a massive shock.’ In his first full season, Jakes rode 11 winners, backing that up with 29 in 2024. This year he was once again enjoying another wonderful season on the track, recording 19 wins from 188 runs to bring owners nearly £200,000 in prize money.

Radio 2 DJ Bob Harris has shared an update on Instagram on his ongoing prostate treatment. The 79-year-old presenter said in a social media post this week that he was feeling “very low” due to the side effects of his treatment. He has lived with the disease since he was diagnosed in 2007. The star has been being supported by his fellow BBC colleagues including Dermot O’Leary and Zoe Ball. His friends and colleagues have been leaving supportive comments alongside his social media posts. Bob shared a selfie while he wrote: “I am so grateful for my cancer treatment but there are times when the side effects are really tough. Feeling very low tonight. Tomorrow I go again…” Bob told his fans back in 2023 that he counts “every day as a blessing” as he has routine top-up treatments for the disease. He said: “I occasionally have to go through moments of intensive top-up treatments, and I have to take some pretty hefty daily medication to keep my cancer under control, the difficult side effects of which can often bring my emotions far too close to the surface! But my cancer was detected early and I count every day as a blessing. My massive advice to any male over 50 reading this is GET YOURSELF CHECKED if you haven’t already. The blood test only takes seconds and it could save your life!” Bob first became well known when he co-founded Time Out magazine in 1968. He then went on to join the BBC in 1970 and has had several roles across its radio channels over the last 50 years. He was the host of the award-winning BBC TV music show Old Grey Whistle Test throughout the 1970s where he would interview iconic musicians. Back in 2019 Harris took a break from presenting after rupturing his aorta. He underwent emergency surgery, which he said he was “lucky to survive”. He said at the time: “Ten days ago, while out walking, I suffered a tear to my aorta known as an aortic dissection. The aorta is basically the M1 of the body and any damage is regarded as extremely serious. For the past few years, I have been walking an average of five miles a day and I am convinced that the level of fitness I have achieved during that time helped save my life.”

On This Day

1936 – The BBC Television Service, the world’s first regular, “high-definition” (then defined as at least 200 lines) service begins.
1982 – Channel 4, the British free-to-air public broadcast television channel funded by its commercial activities, starts broadcasting.
1984 – Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.

Deaths

1950 – George Bernard Shaw, Irish author, playwright, and critic (born 1856).
1996 – Eva Cassidy, American singer (born 1963).
2014 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (born 1929).
2024 – Janey Godley, Scottish actor, writer and comedian (born 1961).

Last Meals

A death row inmate made a very clear statement ahead of his execution last week.

On October 23rd, Anthony Todd Boyd became the state of Alabama’s seventh inmate to be put to death this year.

Boyd received the death sentence for the 1993 murder of Gregory Huguley.

Huguley was taped up and burned alive over a $200 cocaine debt. Boyd was just 21 years old at the time of the murder. While Boyd did not set the man alight, he’s said to have helped bind Huguley to a park bench before others doused him in fuel.

Boyd has always maintained his innocence, which is something he doubled down on in the moments leading up to his death last week.

He told prison staff: “I just wanna say again, I didn’t kill anybody, I didn’t participate in killing anybody. I just want everyone to know, there is no justice in this state.”

Noting that his numerous appeals were turned down, the convicted criminal went on, ”It’s all political, it’s all revenge-motivated. There is no justice in the state, there can be no justice in the state.” He closed his poignant statement with: “I want all my people to keep fighting, you all matter. Let’s get it.”

Ahead of his death, Boyd is said to have requested to die by firing squad, but he died by Nitrogen gas instead. The execution method has long sparked debates over how long it takes for the inmate to die, with some branding it as ‘intense psychological torment’.

Boyd had his spiritual advisor, Rev. Jeff Hood, with him when he died. He said that the way the inmate was killed was ‘torture’.

“We shouldn’t do this to anybody,” Hood said, adding: “We are better than this. We are better than suffocating people to death.”

According to Hood, Boyd was fighting for his life for almost 20 minutes before he was eventually pronounced dead.

Last year, Alabama became the first state to use nitrogen gas as a means of killing inmates. The likes of Louisiana and Arkansas have since followed suit.

In the hours leading up to Boyd’s execution, the Supreme Court’s three liberal justices condemned the use of nitrogen gas and described it as ‘intense psychological torment’.

Addressing the majority decision on Boyd’s request to postpone his death and to die by firing squad, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said: “Boyd asks for the barest form of mercy: to die by firing squad, which would kill him in seconds, rather than by a torturous suffocation lasting up to four minutes. The Constitution would grant him that grace. My colleagues do not.”