machotrouts

Vicky Wright is also a miss for my #1 Hits team. She was a member of "the Foxes", or "Little Foxes", a girl group comprising the Beverley Sisters' daughters: Vicky, sister Babette Wright, and cousin Sasha Felix (daughter of Teddie Beverley). They only released a couple of (non-charting) singles in their own right ('Crossed Line' and 'Golden Bodies', both in 1983), but technically had a #1 hit as part of "The Crowd", the 1985 charity ensemble who covered 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in aid of victims of the Bradford City stadium fire.

Okay! I Bereave You 6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot under – Harry Belafonte has died of heart failure at the age of 96. Known in part for his political activism, from the early US civil rights movement of the 1950s, to his 2020s endorsements of young up-and-coming candidate hopefuls like Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders, he is probably most widely remembered as a singer, popularising calypso music with hits like Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), Jump in the Line, and Mary's Boy Child, amongst others. Jamaica Farewell? No, he left of his own accord. Time for Mr Tally Man to tally your bananas. Belafonte was this year's 28th most popular Inverse pick – somehow, up from 35th last year, with nearly double the points staked on him – so this has shake, shake, shaken up the leaderboard. @YoungWillz and @theoldlady – who were both still in the top 10 this time last year – plummet to the bottom 4 with their latest 15 and 14 points, respectively. Maybe they'd been working all night and drinking rum when they put together their 2023 teams? Speaking of the top 10, there are now just 8 players left on a score of Day-0, as 10 points go to @Perhaps, and 8 to the suitably Beetlejuicy-sounding username @Summer in Transylvania. Among those less afflicted are @TQR, @msc, and @Grimgrass – all in this thread mourning their 6-, 3-, and 1-point hits, but seeing small rises up the leaderboard in the wake of other players' larger failures. Speaking of failures, @Sir Creep catches a break – not only does he not gain any points, my mum takes back last place, having banked 17 points (but no coffee) on Belafonte. Maybe I should call her Senora Creep? GAINED TOTAL = 1. LizLemon 0 = 1. CaptainChorizo 0 = 1. Great Uncle Bulgaria 0 = 1. tracy 0 = 1. Death Impends 0 = 1. Alcalina 0 = 1. Book 0 = 1. Annami 0 ▲ 9. Spade_Cooley 1 ▲ 10. diego 2 ▲ 10. Sean 2 ▲ 12. gcreptile 3 ▲ 13. Grimgrass +1 4 ▲ 13. Nick 4 ▲ 13. machotrouts 4 ▲ 16. BabyBlue 6 ▲ 17. Captain Hemlock 7 ▲ 17. ThereWillBeDeaths7 7 ▼ 19. Summer in Transylvania +9 9 ▼ 19. BuffaloPhil +5 9 ▲ 19. Joey Russ 9 ▼ 22. Perhaps +10 10 ▼ 22. marinade +6 10 ▼ 24. Newjack +4 11 ▲ 24. The Unknown Man 11 ▲ 24. chilean way 11 ▲ 24. The Old Crem 11 ▲ 24. An Fear Beag 11 ▲ 29. Bibliogryphon 12 ▲ 30. deadsox 13 ▲ 30. Grim Up North 13 ▼ 32. Funeralopolis +4 14 ▲ 32. Toast 14 ▼ 34. MortalCaso +6 15 ▼ 35. Hell +6 16 ▲ 35. wannamaker 16 ▼ 37. Pedro67 +8 17 ▲ 38. msc +4 18 ▼ 39. Torva Messor +9 21 ▲ 39. MariNisia 21 ▼ 41. En Passant +12 22 ▼ 42. nantonian2013 +12 23 ▲ 42. TQR +6 23 ▼ 44. Wormfarmer +12 25 = 44. CalebH +9 25 ▲ 44. TheSpinosaurus 25 ▼ 47. YoungWillz +15 26 ▼ 48. theoldlady +14 27 ▲ 49. Sir Creep 40 ▼ 50. machotrouts' mum +17 42

Zero Lives of Ryuichi Sakamoto Yes, I still hadn't done this one yet. Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has died of colon cancer at the age of 71. He will be remembered for his influential electronic music production, his work in the band Yellow Magic Orchestra, his scores for films like The Last Emperor, The Revenant, and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and that one weirdly hot album cover of him holding a lamp in a bathtub. Probably lucky to have lived for another 45 years after that. Now, excuse me while I bring this quote over from the Ryuichi Sakamoto thread to put all the coffee posts in context, because I wasn't sure what you were all on about until I read it: Well, fortune favours the bold... in games other than the Inverse Dead Pool, which is largely unrewarding for the bold, but thank you @Sir Creep for keeping the game interesting at your own 25-point expense. Unfortunately, coffee enemas are ineffective at treating colon cancer. The biggest leaderboard drop, however, is @msc, whose 14-point hit drops him 41 places after he was among the 11 who didn't bet on Bacharach – which means we have our first distinct top 10 of the year, all on 0 points. But for how long? Until 11 days ago, actually, but I'm catching up. The only other points are the 9-osaurus for @TheSpinosaurus, and 1 for @MariNisia, who actually rises 2 places at Creep and Spino's expense. GAINED TOTAL = 1. LizLemon 0 = 1. CaptainChorizo 0 = 1. Great Uncle Bulgaria 0 = 1. Perhaps 0 = 1. Summer in Transylvania 0 = 1. tracy 0 = 1. Death Impends 0 = 1. Alcalina 0 = 1. Book 0 = 1. Annami 0 ▲ 11. Spade_Cooley 1 ▲ 12. diego 2 ▲ 12. Sean 2 ▲ 14. Grimgrass 3 ▲ 14. gcreptile 3 ▲ 16. marinade 4 ▲ 16. BuffaloPhil 4 ▲ 16. Nick 4 ▲ 16. machotrouts 4 ▲ 20. BabyBlue 6 ▲ 21. Captain Hemlock 7 ▲ 21. ThereWillBeDeaths7 7 ▲ 21. Newjack 7 ▲ 24. Joey Russ 9 ▲ 24. Pedro67 9 ▲ 24. MortalCaso 9 ▲ 27. Funeralopolis 10 ▲ 27. Hell 10 ▲ 27. En Passant 10 ▲ 30. The Unknown Man 11 ▲ 30. nantonian2013 11 ▲ 30. chilean way 11 ▲ 30. YoungWillz 11 ▲ 30. The Old Crem 11 ▲ 30. An Fear Beag 11 ▲ 36. Bibliogryphon 12 ▲ 36. Torva Messor 12 ▲ 38. deadsox 13 ▲ 38. Grim Up North 13 ▲ 38. theoldlady 13 ▲ 38. Wormfarmer 13 ▼ 42. msc +14 14 ▲ 42. Toast 14 ▲ 44. wannamaker 16 ▲ 44. CalebH 16 ▲ 46. TQR 17 ▲ 47. MariNisia +1 21 ▼ 48. TheSpinosaurus +9 25 ▲ 48. machotrouts' mum 25 ▼ 50. Sir Creep +25 40

Open the Pearly Gates, Hal Austin Powers, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Austin Powers in Goldmember star Burt Bacharach has died at the age of 94. In addition to his film career, he was also known as the tunes-composing half (i.e. the important half) of a songwriting partnership with lyricist Hal David, with whom he wrote the greatest hits of the 1960s and 70s, including 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again' (unfortunately, correct), 'I Say a Little Prayer' (unfortunately, he needed a big one), 'Only Love Can Break a Heart' (unfortunately, so can being 94 years old), and 'They Long to Be Close to You' (unfortunately, "They" refers to maggots). Lyrics jokes would be more apt for a Hal David obit, but rest assured that I am typing this very melodically. Raindrops are falling on a lot of players' heads, but that doesn't mean your eyes will soon be turning red. Unfortunately, your names on the leaderboard will, not least that of our first player to lose their 25-pointer: my mum. Of course, she did some talking to her son, and she said she didn't like the way I got things done. There are many more Tragic Moments on our inaugural leaderboard: 20 points for @MariNisia, 17 for faded ex-Inverse champ @TQR, 16 for 2023 debutantes @CalebH and @TheSpinosaurus (hello anyway) plus @wannamaker (wannamake it easy on yourself?), and 15 points for @Sir Creep. Never mind, I'm sure the next update will be better for him. GAINED TOTAL = 1. LizLemon 0 = 1. CaptainChorizo 0 = 1. Great Uncle Bulgaria 0 = 1. msc 0 = 1. Perhaps 0 = 1. Summer in Transylvania 0 = 1. tracy 0 = 1. Death Impends 0 = 1. Alcalina 0 = 1. Book 0 = 1. Annami 0 ▼ 12. Spade_Cooley +1 1 ▼ 13. diego +2 2 ▼ 13. Sean +2 2 ▼ 15. Grimgrass +3 3 ▼ 15. gcreptile +3 3 ▼ 17. marinade +4 4 ▼ 17. BuffaloPhil +4 4 ▼ 17. Nick +4 4 ▼ 17. machotrouts +4 4 ▼ 21. BabyBlue +6 6 ▼ 22. Captain Hemlock +7 7 ▼ 22. ThereWillBeDeaths7 +7 7 ▼ 22. Newjack +7 7 ▼ 25. Joey Russ +9 9 ▼ 25. Pedro67 +9 9 ▼ 25. MortalCaso +9 9 ▼ 28. Funeralopolis +10 10 ▼ 28. Hell +10 10 ▼ 28. En Passant +10 10 ▼ 31. The Unknown Man +11 11 ▼ 31. nantonian2013 +11 11 ▼ 31. chilean way +11 11 ▼ 31. YoungWillz +11 11 ▼ 31. The Old Crem +11 11 ▼ 31. An Fear Beag +11 11 ▼ 37. Bibliogryphon +12 12 ▼ 37. Torva Messor +12 12 ▼ 39. deadsox +13 13 ▼ 39. Grim Up North +13 13 ▼ 39. theoldlady +13 13 ▼ 39. Wormfarmer +13 13 ▼ 43. Toast +14 14 ▼ 44. Sir Creep +15 15 ▼ 45. wannamaker +16 16 ▼ 45. TheSpinosaurus +16 16 ▼ 45. CalebH +16 16 ▼ 48. TQR +17 17 ▼ 49. MariNisia +20 20 ▼ 50. machotrouts' mum +25 25

Sorry, just took a couple of months' leave from the forum in the hope of seeding a rumour that I was secretly Burt Bacharach. Did it work? Here, because I haven't posted it yet, is the complete list of Inverse Dead Pool 2023 candidates, ranked by the total number of points you've all assigned them. The top and bottom halves are colour-coded – the green half is what your team would look like if you were the exact statistical average Inverse Dead Pool player, and the red half is what your team would look like if you didn't read the rules properly. TOTAL POINTS # OF TEAMS 1 Donald Trump 1147 49 2 Vladimir Putin 916 48 3 Ozzy Osbourne 841 48 4 Bill Cosby 834 44 5 Clint Eastwood 817 45 6 Billy Connolly 806 48 7 Phil Collins 799 45 8 Buzz Aldrin 780 46 9 Dick Van Dyke 749 44 10 Rupert Murdoch 710 44 11 David Attenborough 609 42 12 Shane MacGowan 594 39 13 Prunella Scales 531 43 14 Mel Brooks 496 44 15 Willie Nelson 488 43 16 Yoko Ono 457 39 17 Burt Bacharach 392 39 18 Randy Jackson 368 35 19 Shannen Doherty 353 33 20 Linda Nolan 266 28 21 Tony Bennett 257 26 22 Janey Godley 248 27 23 Rhod Gilbert 228 26 23 Stanley Baxter 228 32 25 Tim Bilton 202 23 26 Francoise Hardy 195 21 27 Bobby Charlton 176 22 28 Harry Belafonte 169 20 29 Henry Kissinger 162 16 30 Eva Marie Saint 161 25 31 Roberta Flack 146 14 32 Ted Kaczynski 134 16 33 Kate Keltie 127 20 34 Jimmy Carter 115 13 35 Andy Taylor 97 16 36 Bob Barker 81 11 37 Glynis Johns 67 13 38 Rob Burrow 58 7 38 Larry Pressler 58 8 40 Frank Field 55 5 41 Johnny Ruffo 51 11 42 Ryuichi Sakamoto 49 4 43 Rolf Harris 46 3 44 Joanne Woodward 44 9 45 George Alagiah 41 3 46 Jonnie Irwin 37 2 47 Nigel Starmer-Smith 31 5 48 Steve McMichael 22 3 49 Simon Cowell (wildlife) 10 2 50 James Whale 4 1 For the second year running, our healthiest candidate is Donald Trump, who is not only picked by 49 out of 50 players – omitted only by my mum's wishful thinking team – but receives the maximum 25 points from 38 of them. Inverse Dead Poolers have banked a collective 1147 points on his survival, not far short of the potential maximum of 1250. With Vladimir Putin also being declared hale and hearty by the community, it looks like the Russian bot infilitration of Deathlist is a success. 2023's statistical fuckedest candidate is James Whale, with only 4 points donated by @Great Uncle Bulgaria to the cause of Whale conservation. Still, 2022's fuckedest candidate, Frank Field – who had a total of 1 point last year – is not only still with us, but apparently doing 55 times better this year. Hospice care really works! (Burt Bacharach and Ryuichi Sakamoto obits/updates coming ASAP.)

I've just finished scrutinising all teams for irregularities. @The Unknown Man, there's a couple of errors on your team – you've got Michael J. Fox, who isn't (quite) one of the 50 playable names, at #12, and duplicate Rhod Gilberts at #18 and #23 – but fortunately, you have two eligible substitutes, so you don't need to do anything. I've removed Michael and the lower Rhod from your team on my spreadsheet, and your subs, Tony Bennett and Randy Jackson, will compete at #24 and #25. Everything else looks fine, and we've got a nice round 50 players, so time to crack out the bold red text: SUBMISSIONS OFFICIALLY CLOSED.

Your host's team. 1. Phil Collins 2. Ozzy Osbourne 3. Billy Connolly 4. Bill Cosby 5. Clint Eastwood 6. Rupert Murdoch 7. Donald Trump 8. Vladimir Putin 9. Buzz Aldrin 10. Shane MacGowan 11. Francoise Hardy 12. Dick Van Dyke 13. Janey Godley 14. Mel Brooks 15. David Attenborough 16. Prunella Scales 17. Stanley Baxter 18. Willie Nelson 19. Tony Bennett 20. Tim Bilton 21. Kate Keltie 22. Burt Bacharach 23. Henry Kissinger 24. Ted Kacynzski 25. Glynis Johns SUBSTITUTES, if 3 celebs die in the next 7 hours: Eva Marie Saint, Bobby Charlton, Andy Taylor

I am once again posting a team on behalf of my mother. We had to go for a drive, so I printed the list off and sat in the passenger seat talking a ranking out of her. In text form: My own team coming shortly.

I don't know if that's necessarily more intuitive than your top pick, the person you think is least likely to die, being your "#1" – leaving the points conversion to be done off-site on the host's OpenOffice spreadsheet – but I don't have a strong opinion on this! As far as I'm concerned, the only reason for the rules to specify the formatting is to explain the scoring system, and so they just describe the way it always has been done. If there's widespread formatting dissent amongst players, the rules can be updated to reflect that!

Additional notes: Gianluca Vialli and Frank McGarvey are also in this year's DDP top 50, but as they've already died, they are not in play, as dead people are typically precluded from surviving the year. The above names are the top 50 still alive as of the Inverse Dead Pool starting line. Three names are currently tied at #51 – Michael J. Fox, Cleo Laine, and Michael Parkinson – all of whom may come into play if there are more deaths in the top 50 during the submission period.

YOUR 50 ELIGIBLE PICKS ARE HERE: James Whale George Alagiah Jimmy Carter Jonnie Irwin Rolf Harris Frank Field Linda Nolan Rob Burrow Shannen Doherty Dick Van Dyke Andy Taylor Henry Kissinger Prunella Scales Nigel Starmer-Smith Tony Bennett Ryuichi Sakamoto Rhod Gilbert Bobby Charlton Shane MacGowan Bob Barker Kate Keltie Billy Connolly Vladimir Putin Roberta Flack Steve McMichael Yoko Ono Tim Bilton Mel Brooks Johnny Ruffo Ted Kaczynski David Attenborough Harry Belafonte Janey Godley Randy Jackson Buzz Aldrin Willie Nelson Simon Cowell (wildlife) Eva Marie Saint Clint Eastwood Glynis Johns Ozzy Osbourne Stanley Baxter Bill Cosby Rupert Murdoch Joanne Woodward Francoise Hardy Phil Collins Larry Pressler Burt Bacharach Donald Trump Submissions are now open. Select and rank 25 of those names to survive 2023, and post your teams in this thread. The deadline to submit a team is Monday, January 30, 23.59 (GMT) – a little over a week from now.

PLACEHOLDER POST The 50 names and the submission deadline are in the post below. This post was here so I could go back and edit them in later so they wouldn't get lost in the middle of the thread, but as there were no posts made in the days between this and the reveal of the names, it is now superfluous, and it turns out I can't delete it. Oops!

INVERSE DEAD POOL 2022  Welcome to the 11th edition of the Inverse Dead Pool, the nice dead pool where you don't want your picks to die. How to play The game starts when I post a list of this year's 50 most popular Derby Dead Pool picks. From this list of 50, you must pick 25 people who you think will SURVIVE the year. The premise is to AVOID picking people who will die. Rank your picks – from least likely to die to most likely to die. You receive points according to their position on your team – 25 points if your #1 pick dies, 24 points if your #2 pick dies, and so on, down to 1 point if your #25 pick dies, and 0 points if anyone you haven't picked dies. You do NOT want points. The winner is the player with the fewest points at the end of the year (Dec 31, 23.59 GMT). You may also pick a 26th name as a substitute, in case one of your picks dies before the submission deadline. If that happens, everyone in a lower position on your team moves up a place, and your substitute is drafted in at #25. If any picks die during the submission period, then the 51st most popular name (which I'll reveal alongside the top 50) becomes an eligible pick. This means the 51st name can be your substitute, but can't initially be on your main team. Once you have a team ready, post it in this thread. If you amend your team after posting it (you may want to do this if, for example, the 51st name was your substitute, they've come into play, and you want to rank them somewhere other than the default #25), then please post again in this thread to clarify what you've changed. You may not amend your team after the submission deadline. Tie break details If two or more players are tied at the end of the year, the winner is the player with the fewest hits. If all tied players have an equal amount of hits, then the winner is whichever of these tied players had the fewest points most recently (i.e. whoever had the most recent pick to die, whoever ranked that pick lower if all tied players picked them, whoever had the second most recent pick to die if those are the same, etc). If all tied players have the exact same hits in the exact same positions (or if they achieve a heretofore-unachieved perfect score of 0), the tie is not broken – all tied players share victory. Congratulations to our previous winners... 2021 BabyBlue 25 points 2020 The Quim Reaper 34 points 2019 drol 10 points 2018 machotrouts 17 points 2017 drol 25 points 2016 Pedro67 21 points 2015 Death Impends 15 points 2014 Bibliogryphon 10 points 2013 N/A 2012 Esturian Float 4 points 2011 Garn2 15 points Thank you to our previous hosts... 2018-2021 Death Impends 2014-2017 The Dead Cow 2011-2012 Spade_Cooley Links to previous Inverse Dead Pools 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2012-2016 2011

58 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 36 The Specials — Ghost Town 36 The Human League — Don't You Want Me 29 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes 28 Blondie — Atomic +1 21 Blondie — Call Me +3 20 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket -6 Gonna use my downvotes ♫

54 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 52 Blondie — Atomic 43 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket -6 38 The Human League — Don't You Want Me 37 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes +1 31 The Specials — Ghost Town +3 27 Blondie — Call Me I don't know if Don't You Want Me is in my ideal final 5, but the poor thing has spent most of the game scraping along the bottom of the leaderboard and I don't have the heart to impede its spectacular comeback narrative.

57 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket 52 Blondie — Atomic 47 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 45 Blondie — Call Me 34 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes 32 The Police — Don't Stand So Close to Me 25 The Specials — Ghost Town 21 The Human League — Don't You Want Me 19 ABBA —The Winner Takes It All +4 6 The Specials — Too Much Too Young -6 Fitting that ABBA is getting tugged back and forth like a kid in a bitter custody battle.

59 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket 50 Blondie — Atomic 49 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 43 Blondie — Call Me 34 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes +1 34 The Police — Don't Stand So Close to Me +1 27 The Specials — Ghost Town 20 The Human League — Don't You Want Me 19 The Jam — Going Underground / Dreams of Children 19 ABBA — The Winner Takes It All +2 18 The Specials — Too Much Too Young -1 14 The Police — Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic  00 Adam & the Ants — Stand and Deliver -5 He stopped being dandy.

49 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket 48 The Police — Don't Stand So Close to Me 46 Blondie — Atomic 42 Blondie — Call Me 40 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 32 The Jam — Going Underground / Dreams of Children 31 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes +2 30 Adam & the Ants — Stand and Deliver -2 30 The Police — Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic 27 ABBA — The Winner Takes It All +2 23 The Specials — Ghost Town 22 The Specials — Too Much Too Young 14 The Human League — Don't You Want Me  06 David Bowie & Queen — Under Pressure -4 Pressure! Pushing down on me!

56 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket 48 The Police — Don't Stand So Close to Me 42 Blondie — Call Me 42 Blondie — Atomic +1 40 The Jam — Going Underground / Dreams of Children +1 36 ABBA — The Winner Takes It All 36 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes 36 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 33 Adam & the Ants — Stand and Deliver -2 29 The Specials — Ghost Town +1 25 The Police — Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic 24 The Specials — Too Much Too Young -3 18 The Human League — Don't You Want Me +1 09 The Jam — Start! -1 09 David Bowie & Queen — Under Pressure Maybe I'm biased against songs about childbirth ("Too Much Too Young", "Stand and Deliver")

52 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket 48 Blondie — Atomic 48 The Police — Don't Stand So Close to Me +1 41 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes +1 40 ABBA — The Winner Takes It All 39 The Jam — Going Underground / Dreams of Children 37 Blondie — Call Me 36 The Specials — Ghost Town +1 32 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 31 Adam & the Ants — Stand and Deliver -2 27 The Specials — Too Much Too Young -2 24 The Jam — Start! 23 The Police — Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic -1 19 David Bowie & Queen — Under Pressure -1 19 Adam & the Ants — Prince Charming +1 11 The Human League — Don't You Want Me Upvoting and downvoting songs by the same artists, just so none of them get too upset.

'Use It Up and Wear It Out' definitely seems to be one of those not-the-song-you'd-have-thought-would-be-their-only-number-one number ones, but it's been an occasional recurring earworm for me since Charles Venn did a salsa to it on Strictly a few years ago. An enduring hit in the machotrouts memory.

Addendum: Sorry you missed out on an official leaderboard placement, @Wormfarmer, but for what it's worth, your non-competing team would have scored 59 points, and placed joint 27th.

Congratulations to the Inverse Dead Pool 2022 champion, @YorkshireBanker. Here's your Inverse Crown – one previous user, but she won't miss it. THE WINNING TEAM: FINAL LEADERBOARD: 1. YorkshireBanker 27 2. Sean 30 3. Joey Russ 33 4. Sideik 35 5. Pedro67 36 6. Banana 37 7. ThereWillBeDeaths7 41 7. Toast 41 9. LizLemon 42 9. CaptainChorizo 42 11. machotrouts 43 12. theoldlady 45 13. MortalCaso 46 14. Sir Creep 49 15. An Fear Beag 51 15. BuffaloPhil 51 15. wannamaker 51 18. YoungWillz 53 18. Nick 53 20. gcreptile 54 21. Book 55 22. deadsox 56 23. Funeralopolis 57 23. The Old Crem 57 25. Newjack 58 25. GuyFromFuture 58 27. Philip 59 27. Spade_Cooley 59 29. drol 60 30. Death Impends 63 31. The Unknown Man 64 32. CastAway 67 33. MariNisia 68 34. TQR 69 34. Perhaps 69 36. Bibliogryphon 70 37. Predictor 72 38. Great Uncle Bulgaria 75 39. machotrouts' mum 82 39. Grim Up North 82 41. Annami 87 42. Pedro67's wife 90 43. BabyBlue 94 43. Hell 94 45. Doulton 117 46. msc 127 47. chilean way 133 48. Neobrakeon 143 FINAL CELEBRITY ROUND-UP: TOTAL POINTS # OF TEAMS 1. Donald Trump 1022 46 2. Paul Gascoigne 907 44 3. Clint Eastwood 867 45 4. Ghislaine Maxwell 863 43 5. Phil Collins 755 44 6. Queen Elizabeth II 742 43 7. Dick Van Dyke 724 43 8. Billy Connolly 647 43 9. Rupert Murdoch 632 42 10. David Attenborough 624 41 11. Shane MacGowan 573 39 12. Joe Exotic 508 36 13. Willie Nelson 444 41 14. Rolf Harris 430 40 15. Olivia Newton-John 415 35 16. Yoko Ono 414 32 17. Mel Brooks 401 36 18. Tony Bennett 359 33 19. Bobby Charlton 351 39 20. Doddie Weir 335 29 21. Prunella Scales 314 32 22. Angela Lansbury 269 27 23. June Brown 241 25 24. Shannen Doherty 216 23 24. Tim Bilton 216 21 24. Tom Parker 216 26 27. Henry Kissinger 194 18 28. Milos Zeman 191 18 29. Bill Turnbull 187 18 30. Rob Burrow 158 20 31. Mikhail Gorbachev 137 15 32. Jerry Lee Lewis 135 15 33. Linda Nolan 117 13 34. Francoise Hardy 101 14 35. Harry Belafonte 92 14 36. Eva Marie Saint 84 10 37. James Whale 83 11 38. Joanne Woodward 82 14 39. George Alagiah 81 11 40. Leslie Phillips 74 5 41. Jean-Louis Trintignant 65 5 42. Pope Benedict XVI 63 8 43. Jimmy Carter 62 7 44. Tom Smith 58 12 45. Susie Steiner 43 5 46. Bob Barker 42 4 47. Pele 37 6 48. Tom Weiskopf 17 5 49. George Perez 11 3 50. Frank Field 1 1 (@Bibliogryphon probably deserves some kind of unique non-hit bonus un-points for being the only player to predict Frank Field's inexplicable survival.) And last year, when @BabyBlue won, @Death Impends "played us out" with the song 'Baby Blue'. So, to play us out, here's the only song I know of that has the phrase "Yorkshire banker" in the lyrics: Bop. Thank you for playing. See you in the Inverse Dead Pool 2023 soon.

51 Blondie – Atomic 48 The Specials – Ghost Town 39 Soft Cell – Tainted Love 39 David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes 38 ABBA – The Winner Takes It All 35 The Jam – Going Underground / Dreams of Children 31 The Police – Don't Stand So Close to Me 30 David Bowie & Queen – Under Pressure -1 29 The Specials – Too Much Too Young -1 27 The Pretenders – Brass in Pocket 26 Adam & the Ants – Stand and Deliver -1 25 Adam & the Ants – Prince Charming 23 Roxy Music – Jealous Guy 22 The Jam – Start! -1 22 Barbra Streisand – Woman in Love 21 The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic -1 21 Odyssey – Use It Up and Wear It Out 20 John Lennon – Woman -1 20 Blondie – Call Me 20 Dexy's Midnight Runners – Geno +1 19 Bucks Fizz – Making Your Mind Up +1 15 M.A.S.H. – Theme from M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless) 15 Detroit Spinners – Working My Way Back to You 13 John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over 11 ABBA – Super Trouper +1 11 The Human League – Don't You Want Me +1 7 Smokey Robinson – Being with You 6 Olivia Newton-John & ELO – Xanadu Taking points from the rich and giving to the poor. Just doing my bit to defeat Thatcherism

He's been on the salvage lot periphery of the #1 Hits team for a while; I think his wife died in 2022, so I took that as the excuse I need to finally promote him. I'm not the first to pick him – he appears to have previously featured on theme teams of Canadians, one-hit wonders, and "annoying people". (In his defence, I don't believe anyone could still be hearing 'No Charge' enough in the 21st century to truthfully call themselves annoyed by it. Haunted by the memory, maybe.)