Arthur David Banks (13 February 1948 – 22 February 2022) was a British newspaper editor and broadcaster.

Early life

Banks was born in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

on 13 February 1948. He attended the local Boteler Grammar School.

Career

Banks worked in journalism through the 1970s, and developed a friendship with

Kelvin MacKenzie Kelvin Calder MacKenzie (born 22 October 1946) is an English News media, media executive and a former newspaper editor. He became editor of ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun'' in 1981, by which time the publication had been established as Br ...

. By 1979, Banks was assistant chief sub-editor at the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'', then went to work with MacKenzie at the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

''. In 1981, Mackenzie returned to the UK, and Banks became managing editor of the ''Post'', but in 1983 followed MacKenzie back to work at ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' as assistant editor. He led

strikebreaker A strikebreaker (sometimes pejoratively called a scab, blackleg, bootlicker, blackguard or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers may be current employees ( union members or not), or new hires to keep the orga ...

s during the

Wapping dispute The Wapping dispute was a lengthy failed strike by print workers in London in 1986. Print unions tried to block distribution of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production wa ...

. In 1986, Banks returned to New York as editor of the '' Daily News'' but, the following year, he moved on to become deputy editor of ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'', then in 1988 editor of the '' Sydney Daily Telegraph''. In 1992, he returned to the UK to become editor of the ''Mirror'', then in 1994 became editorial director of the Mirror Group, consultant editor of the ''

Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marked ...

''. Later in the 1990s, Banks presented breakfast shows on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...

and then

Talk Radio UK Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

. In the 2000s, he wrote a regular column for the ''

Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500 before becoming online-only in 2013. Published wit ...

''.

Personal life and death

Banks married Gemma Newton in 1975 in Wales. The couple had a daughter (born 1978) and a son (born 1982). Banks died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on 22 February 2022, days after his 74th birthday.

References

External links

Press Gazette April 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, David 1948 births 2022 deaths British newspaper editors Daily Mirror people The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) people English radio presenters People educated at Boteler Grammar School People from Warrington Strikebreakers