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It has just hit midnight in the UK. Merry Christmas all, and congratulations to those who survived Whamageddon 2022.

It's been quite the year for celeb deaths, hasn't it? Our finest eclectic Hartlepudlian tradition has farewelled icons like Queen, Gorbachev, Olivia Newton-John, Sidney Poitier, Bernard Cribbins, Angela Lansbury, Leslie Phillips, and Catalonian singer Pau Riba. Plus Larry Storch and Ned Rorem reminded us of that hot deadpooling maxim that not everyone who sees 99 sees 100. Will Henry Kissinger provide another instance in the coming months? No. But just in case he does, he carries a bonus that's helpful here, and let's just say it ain't panto... Also, feck, I'll be running it for a fifth time this coming year. Feels like yesterday I took it over from Rotten Ali! The rules remain the same, and as usual I will not be reading or entering any PMed teams until I submit all of my teams for deadpools beginning January 1. Rules Points are scored according to the following highly complex scoring system: Competitors are awarded points according to the order in which their candidates die. The starting positions are as follows: Candidate 1: 50 points Candidate 2: 45 points Candidate 3: 40 points Candidate 4: 35 points Candidate 5: 30 points Candidate 6: 25 points Candidate 7: 20 points Candidate 8: 15 points Candidate 9: 10 points Candidate 10: 5 points When the first candidate dies, points will be awarded as above, and the remaining potential scores will slide up or down one position. If candidate 1 dies first, the team gets 50 points and the points below all increase by 5, so candidate 2 will get 50 points if he or she is the next to go. If a celebrity departs further down the list before the ones above are gone, the scores above are reduced by 5, causing the highest remaining score on the list to disappear. Those below will increase by 5 as before. This will often cause two celebrities to have the same number of points next to their names, but the order in which they die will still influence subsequent scores. Additionally, the player is allowed up to two substitutes. The substitutes will still count as part of the player's team, but use a fully different scoring system: 25 points if one substitute dies, 50 if the second substitute dies. Bonuses do not apply to substitute hits - this likewise means that subs will not take away a name's unique bonus if only one team has said name in their main ten. If a name on the player's team dies before the pool opens, they will not receive points for the death (barring a minuscule consolation point or two). They will be allowed to put a new name on their main team, either from the subs bench or a new name entirely. If a sub is promoted, they are entitled to name a new sub. Note that premature deaths are the only circumstances in which changes to a team are allowed. Otherwise, teams will be entered as originally submitted. If Superstar Billy Graham announces hospice care after you've submitted, tough luck. I'm doing you a favor with that one, after all. As the host receives an email copy of any PMed teams as originally submitted, each email will be cross-checked before a team is entered - discrete edits to your PMed team will not sneak by! If a celebrity has unambiguously died within the deadpooling year, but a specific date of death is not provided, the latest plausible date of death will be used. This follows the precedent set by Leah Bracknell, who was a popular hit in 2019, but for many months her date of death was never elaborated beyond being in September. By the time her exact date of death was known, the 2019 HPDP was long-concluded and it would not have changed the winner anyway. I ultimately treated her as the last September hit, and any future hits in that vein will have a similar logic applied. Note that if details later emerge giving a person a specific date of death before the year's game is concluded, the scores will be adjusted accordingly. The Bonus System: Candidate not picked by any other competitor +2 Candidate under 18 years old -2 25th or less in line to the throne of Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden or Denmark +2 Been on Celebrity Squares (or Hollywood Squares) +3 Death of candidate in spite of extremely high improbability or unlikeliness of same. +5 US Baseball or Basketball player -3 Former or present UK Prime Minister +3 Drummer +2 Former or present US president +3 Guilty (in Notapotato's opinion) of crimes against humanity +3 (with Notapotato rarely appearing, host Death Impends will use her own judgement for such cases) Both of the above +6 Has played in a pantomime +2 Has performed Morris dancing +3 Found dead in a Swimming Pool +3 Died in a farming or gardening accident +2 Death worthy of a Darwin Award +2 Murder, Suicide, Lightning +2 Dies on Notapotato's birthday (16th of May) +2 Death by Fire +2 Death by Water +2 Death by Bongo +6 The bonus is calculated according to the following simple formula: Bonus x (score gained from death divided by 5) Multiple bonuses multiply so a bonus of 3 and a bonus of 2 give together a bonus of 6. This makes negative bonuses extremely unattractive. So a bonus of 2 on a score of 40 gives you 2*(40/5)=16 Additionally, there will be a bonus of 50 points for coming in in 13th place in the Hartlepool Deadlypool. Unless there are only 13 or fewer entries. then there won't be. Nothing could be simpler. Oh yes, and there's an extra bonus of unspecified size payable on the first hit of the team which has the most interesting and unusual selection of celebrities. The host also reserves the right to reward further, minuscule bonuses to teams - often less than a point! 1. Dead means dead. No longer living: A bit like William Holden who having just been fished out of Gloria Swanson's swimming pool, died drunk and impoverished a mere 31 years later. Eligible for a death certificate. (A Munchkin is optional but may get a bonus) 2. For the purpose of the game a "celebrity" is someone well-enough known to get their death mentioned in one of the news sources host Death Impends deems qualifying for this pool: Anything that qualifies for the Derby Dead Pool The New York Times The Washington Post The Scotsman Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian The Sydney Morning Herald Stuff.co.nz Le Monde Le Figaro Der Spiegel Die Zeit El Pais El Mundo Corriere della Sera la Repubblica 3. Only human beings may be submitted as candidates. Animals may take part in the dead pool, but may be ridiculed for doing so, and may not get any points. Unless they are cats with a long history of doing dead pools. Team names which sound like an animal such as "Donkey from Hell" or "Dead as a Parrot" are allowed, I suppose, but may be ridiculed. 3a. Strictly only one team per participant. The submission of teams in the name of domestic animals in an attempt to circumvent this rule is doomed to failure. And ridicule. 4. If a participant dies during the competition, unlike in some dead pools, they don't win the competition automatically. They may, however, get awarded a few extra points by way of consolation. And next year, a bonus will be named after you, perhaps. If you do die during the course of 2023, do drop us a line and let us know where you went wrong so others can avoid making the same mistake. 4a. For legal reasons, we are unable to actively encourage participants to murder or otherwise accelerate the deaths of their chosen celebrities. There is however no penalty in the Hartlepool Deadlypool for doing so. Your Procurator Fiscal or local alternative may see this differently though, so we recommend asking beforehand. 5. Anyone selecting the following types of names will be summarily ridiculed and very likely penalised in an arbitrary and unpleasant way should their candidates actually die or be killed: Famous For Being Ill names. The penalty incurred will be decided upon a name dying and obiting, and is dependent on the host's opinion of the degree of a name's FFBI-ness. A very select few, like Kate Granger to use a past example, I feel have transcended their illness to become a legitimate pick, and will receive no penalty. Those known for longevity are also not considered FFBI and will receive full points. Names who are proactive with their illness, but of a lower profile than the Granger types, will receive a moderate-to-severe penalty. If a name is "famous" solely for reasons such as an "inspiring" deathbed marriage or being in a coma, they will receive no points or perhaps even negative points! Fringes of Fame names are similarly subject to a penalty. I will likewise judge these names on a case by case basis upon death. If a name has some claim to fame independent of their relationship, I will likely be lenient - think Rayya Elias, whose news coverage in her final years was largely about Liz Gilbert's partnership with her, but was a published author in her own right. I will also be lenient with fringey names who have received a reasonable amount of media coverage prior to ill health - for instance, Roberta McCain was only noteworthy as John McCain's mother, but was a familiar media presence during his 2008 presidential campaign and had a standalone Wikipedia page since 2007. But if a Hollywood star makes a tearful post to Instagram about how their sister is terminally ill? If the sister never got much media attention pre-cancer, don't expect to gain a lot should she become a hit. Anyone under sentence of death or highly likely to be sentenced to death at the start of the year, unless they die by means other than execution Anyone missing in action at the time of entry submission, unless said MIA name is discovered to be alive, and dies later in the year 5a. And you won't be getting the extra bonus points for original and unusual picks if you don't come up with something a bit more original or unusual. 6. The deadline is 23:59 GMT on December 31. However, unlike most dead pools, teams may still be submitted post deadline - with the catch that any teams submitted January 1st and beyond are limited to 9 picks (plus two substitutes), and the highest-ranked name on your team starts with a value of 45 points. In fairness to those who entered in a timely manner, I will also forbid late entrants from including any currently unique names on their main team. Names that are entirely unpicked, only on subs benches, or on multiple main teams are fair game for inclusion. Because the subs bench has no impact on a pick's uniqueness, any name is fair game for inclusion on a late team's subs bench. 7. Though only deaths occurring up to December 31, 2023 are able to count as hits, the 2023 HPDP will officially close 23:59 GMT on January 7, 2024, to allow some breathing room for late-year deaths that might take a few days to accrue a proper obit.

Happy Christmas to all on Deathlist!

Merry christmas to my fellow DL'ers as well as your families and friends! Fijne kerst!

I guess it just goes to show that not everyone who makes it to 109, is going to make it to be 110. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic)

Oldest Irish person Bridget McMorrow (who lived in Shepherd's Bush in London from her teens), dead at 109.

It could. I mean the death of Betty White was five hours off being announced in 2022 Uk time. Say if her death was announced at 7pm LA time it would have been 3am UK time and the list already published.

Exactly! It would be appreciated a lot more when you post about individual people and why they might be great selections. Your previous list with predictions, however fun they probably are for you since your clear liking for the genarians site, didn't really tell us anything since they were not based on insights on individual people but more, broad predictions. When you would go on and post in some of the existing threads about people you think might be good picks sinds they are old, ill, or otherwise in danger of death, I'm sure you will get more positive reactions to your contributions.

Merry Christmas to all of ye.

#11: Wang Zhongqi dead at 90.

Abraham Levy (wiki), spiritual head of Spanish and Portuguese Jews for 50 years, reportedly dead at 83, though no reliable source is available right now.

I am unscathed, despite a very narrow squeak when I turned on the TV to find that the film of the same name was on.

#10 Zhang Jinzhe dead at 102.

Or on other threads like "The 100 Club" or "Death Anniversary Thread", I can discuss about a specific individual for what they are noted for from this website I have interest in.

Not everyone sees 100:

Thanks for sparing a thought for anyone managing masterlists in forthcoming dead pools!

Actually it has become almost impossible for me to downvote something... but it has to be done...

48 Donna Summer - I Feel Love 48 David Bowie – Space Oddity +4 47 Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights 29 Blondie – Heart of Glass -6 16 ABBA – The Name of the Game At least one ABBA song made it to the top 5. I am happy with that.

On this day 6 years ago in 2016 , british character actress Liz Smith, latterly best known for her roles in Sitcoms The Royle Family, The Vicar of Dibley and Two point four children , died aged 95. A notable end of year hit for the official DeathList that year.

I don’t like how we all have to praise NHS workers and ‘first responders’ blindly as being amazing and worth their weight in gold. It was their career choices, let them get on with it I say!

After hearing his improvement and seeing that recent photo (also seen it on another article dated as 8th December), I’d now have to agree he deserves to be discarded alongside sensible drops Law, Crosby, Gambon and Berlusconi.

My three delicious Crumble Teams have just been sent in. Many thanks for all of the teams hard work in running this pool. Confident I have put in a high quality , colourful and interesting set of names!

PM'd my entry. I doubt I'll have 15 uniques this time out.

Martti Mäkinen, Finnish front veteran of the November 1939-March 1940 Winter War (probably not that much of them left anymore) dead at 104.

Valerie Harper