Dead Pool 9th November 2025

Quite a few famous deaths this week, alas no points though. 

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• George Emil Banks, 83, American mass murderer (1982 Wilkes-Barre shootings), kidney cancer.  
• Donna Jean Godchaux, 78, American singer (Grateful Dead, Donna Jean Godchaux Band), cancer. 
• Gopichand Hinduja, 85, Indian conglomerate industry executive, chairman of Hinduja Group. Britain’s richest man. 
• Dick Cheney, 84, American politician, vice president (2001–2009), secretary of defence (1989–1993), pneumonia and heart disease. 
• Diane Ladd, 89, American actress (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 
• Pauline Collins, 85, British actress (Shirley Valentine, Upstairs, Downstairs, City of Joy), complications from Parkinson’s disease. 
• Gilson Lavis, 74, English drummer (Squeeze, Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra). 
• James Watson, 97, American molecular biologist (nucleic acid double helix), Nobel Prize laureate (1962), complications from an infection. 
• Lee Tamahori, 75, New Zealand film director (Once Were Warriors, Die Another Day, Along Came a Spider), complications from Parkinson’s disease. 
• Quentin Willson, 68, English television presenter (Britain’s Worst Driver, Top Gear, Fifth Gear) and motoring journalist, lung cancer.

In Other News

An American teacher and his teenage son were killed by a swarm of hundreds of hornets while on a zip-lining holiday in Laos. Daniel Owen, 47, and his 15-year-old son Cooper died on 15th October while visiting an eco-adventure resort near the northern city of Luang Prabang, the US embassy in Laos. Hundreds of what are believed to have been Asian giant hornets attacked the pair while they were trying to descend from a tree, a source close to two US diplomats in Laos told The Flying Monkeys. After the incident, the father and son arrived conscious at the Phanak clinic, showing no signs of anaphylactic shock – allergic reactions that can kill people who have been stung by bees, wasps and hornets. However they died just hours later after they were taken to the Luang Prabang provincial hospital. Their bodies were “covered in red spots” after the “very, very painful” attack, said Phanomsay Phakan, a doctor at the Phakan Arocavet Clinic where the father and son were taken. “A lot of stings, more than 100, over the whole body. I thought already that it’s a very dangerous situation because I had never seen it as bad as that,” he said. Green Jungle Park, where the incident occurred, extended its “deepest condolences” and said it has reviewed all existing procedures in a statement. Asian giant hornets are the world’s largest hornet, and are native to tropical parts of East Asia, South Asia, mainland Southeast Asia, and parts of the Russian east. In recent years they have spread to countries in western Europe, including the UK. They are responsible for dozens of deaths every year owing to the power of their 6mm stinger which emits a particularly potent venom containing mastoparan-M – a toxin commonly found in wasp venom. Last month in Spain, a man died after accidentally stepping on a hornet’s nest in the Galicia region. Two others died the same month.  

Television presenter Davina McCall has revealed she underwent surgery for breast cancer nearly three weeks ago. In a video posted to her Instagram account, McCall said she was “very angry” by the discovery but feels in a “much more positive place”. McCall, 58, said she found a lump in her breast after checking herself and got it examined, adding: “It was very, very small, so I got it very, very early which is incredibly lucky. But I am so relieved to have had it removed and to know that it hasn’t spread.” The former Big Brother presenter thanked medical staff at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, where she had the lumpectomy, and urged women to get their breasts checked. It comes nearly two years after McCall underwent surgery to remove a rare brain tumour. A colloid cyst was found during a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work and McCall later said she was given the all clear after MRI scans. McCall started her Instagram post by telling her 2.1m followers: “I’m talking about this because I think it might help someone. And this is what I always do.” She said she found a lump a few weeks ago which “came and went” but was encouraged to get it examined after seeing posters telling women to “check your breasts” while working on ITV’s The Masked Singer and Lorraine show. She said presenter Lorraine Kelly had put signs on the backs of all the doors saying “check your breasts” and “every time I went for a wee I did that. It  was still there, and then one morning I saw myself in the mirror and thought “I’m going to get that looked at”. I had a biopsy. I found out it was indeed breast cancer.” McCall said she was going to have five days of radiotherapy in January “as kind of an insurance policy” and then will be on a “journey to try and stop it ever coming back”. She added: “I think my message is: get checked if you’re worried. Check yourself regularly. If you are due a mammogram, then get it done.”

An influencer who underwent 27 operations to look like a Barbie doll has died at the age of 31. Barbara Jankavski was found dead at a townhouse in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and the police are said to be  investigating the death. They have registered the influencer’s death as ‘suspicious’ and are waiting for a full autopsy. The emergency services had been called to the property over the weekend, where they found Jankavski, but they were unable to revive her. This comes only days after the emergency services in Lago Verde had to confirm to death of another Brazilian influencer, Fernanda Oliveira da Silva. A friend of the influencer had been at the house that same day and left before she died. The friend told the police that Jankavski had injured her eye earlier that day. Just weeks ago, the influencer had shocked fans with a selfie that showed she had gotten black eyes after a surgery. The injuries were part of the healing process for a facelift she had gotten. In the caption of the video where the black eyes were prominent, she said: “Day 3 of the facelift by @dr.aurilioluis @asanasal_dedivas improving way too fast! Almost invisible scar!” She also told her followers that the injuries looked more scary than they were. The influencer spent an estimated £42k to look more like a real-life Barbie. She became famous on social media after she started documenting her surgery journey. She had over 55k followers on Instagram and over 344k on TikTok, where she was known as Boneca Desumana, which is the Brazilian Portuguese for Inhuman Barbie. She also appeared in multiple TV shows and ad campaigns in Brazil.

On This Day

• 1888 – Jack the Ripper murders Mary Jane Kelly, his final victim in the Whitechapel murders. 
• 1963 – At a coal mine in Miike, Japan, an explosion kills 458 and hospitalises 839 with carbon monoxide poisoning.
• 1998 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.

Deaths

• 1937 – Ramsay MacDonald, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the U.K. (born 1866).
• 1940 – Neville Chamberlain, English politician, Prime Minister of the U.K. (born 1869).
• 1953 – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (born 1914).
• 1970 – Charles de Gaulle, French general & politician, President of France (born 1890).
• 2004 – Emlyn Hughes, English footballer and manager (born 1947).

The Wilkes-Barre Shootings

On the morning of September 25th 1982, 40-year-old George Emil Banks roamed his Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, neighbourhood on a mission of destruction. On that fateful morning, with his mental health declining, Banks’ actions would forever affect the lives of so many people and traumatise a community.

Fuelled by a twisted sense of hopelessness, Banks methodically targeted family members, acquaintances, and even strangers, resulting in the death of 13 individuals across various locations, including four of his own children. 

Who was George Emil Banks, and what drove him to commit such horrific acts? Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Banks worked as a prison guard – a job often associated with high stress and exposure to trauma. Colleagues described him as troubled and prone to emotional outbursts, though many dismissed it as a result of the job’s strain.

Banks’s relationships were often tumultuous and complicated as he had children with several partners, which led to a web of connections that only fuelled his paranoia and instability further, according to interviews with family members and neighbours.

He saw himself as a protector and feared the racial and social obstacles his children could encounter in the future. His mind was tormented by worries about discrimination and environmental decline, which he feared would negatively impact his children’s lives. 

Having grown up as a mixed-race child during the 1940’s and 50’s, George was keenly aware of prejudice and discrimination.

This obsession would ultimately lead to his violent actions.

Prior to his stint as a corrections officer, Banks had served time in prison himself for his role in a robbery, which resulted in a shooting. Despite his record, Banks was hired as a correctional officer at Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, in 1980.

In early September 1982, just weeks before the shootings, Banks had locked himself in a guard tower while threatening suicide. He was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation at a local hospital. 

On the morning of September 25th 1982, after a night of drinking and using pills, George Emil Banks shot and killed seven people in his Schoolhouse Lane home. These included three former girlfriends and four of his children, including two sons, a daughter, and a stepdaughter. 

Banks then dressed in military fatigues and carried his semi-automatic rifle as he hunted his next victims. The next two people shot just happened to be leaving a neighbour’s house when Banks saw them and opened fire.

24-year-old Ray Hall Jr. died at the scene, while 22-year-old Jimmy Olsen survived his wounds.

Banks then drove to the home of Sharon Mazzillo, a former flame and the mother of three of his children. Banks intruded into her residence that fatal day, shooting her to death. After murdering Sharon, Banks then shot and killed their son Kissamayu.

He also murdered Sharon’s mother, who was trying to use the phone to call for help. Also killed was Sharon’s 7-year-old nephew. The only survivor was Sharon’s brother, who managed to hide in a closet during the attack.

After the murders, Banks abandoned his car and carjacked another vehicle. 

After resting for a while, Banks went to his mother’s house and confessed what he had done. He then asked her to take him to a friend’s house. Though horrified by what she had just learned, she did as George asked.

At the same time, the police were looking for Banks after connecting him with the shootings.

Shortly after dropping George off, Banks’s mother returned home and was met by authorities looking for her son. They then drove to the location, and Banks’s mother attempted to convince him to surrender.

As the standoff progressed, police tried various tactics to convince Banks to give himself up. Nothing worked.

Finally, a former co-worker of Banks arrived at the scene, and convinced him to surrender. 

George Banks’s trial began in June 1983. He faced a litany of charges, including murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, grand theft auto, and numerous other charges. If convicted, Banks faced a possible death sentence.

Banks insisted on testifying at trial, and though his rambling and, at times, incoherent defence did not win his acquittal, it may have spared his life. Because even though the jury recommended the death penalty, Banks’s attorneys continued to appeal his case, and in 2010, he was found mentally incompetent for execution, with psychiatrists having previously labeled him as “psychotic, delusional, and irrational.” 

George Emil Banks served 43 years of his sentence at State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of 83. 

Last Week’s Birthdays

Eric Dane (53), Lou Ferrigno (74), Robert Duncan McNeill (61), Parker Posey (57), Matthew Rhys (51), Tara Reid (50), Gretchen Mol (53), Richard Curtis (69), Gordon Ramsay (59), Adam Devine (42), Ethan Hawke (55), Emma Stone (37), Thandiwe Newton (53), Rebecca Romijn (53), Sally Field (79), Nigel Havers (74), Robert Patrick (67), Sam Rockwell (57), Tilda Swinton (65), Famke Janssen (61), Tamzin Outhwaite (55), Armin Shimerman (76), Matthew McConaughey (56), Ralph Macchio (64), Olivia Taylor Dudley (40), Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs (56), Dolph Lundgren (68), Kate Capshaw (72), Roseanne Barr (73), and Lulu (77).