Death Impends

Picked as recently as 2020, but unsurprisingly not this year given the UK press's weird aversion to Nobel laureates.

43 Kraftwerk – The Model / Computer Love 43 The Jam – Town called Malice 39 Madness – House of fun 39 Men at Work – Down Under +2 37 Bonnie Tyler — Total eclipse of the heart +2 31 The Police – Every breath you take 30 Culture Club – Do you really want to hurt me? 30 Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know? 29 Eddy Grant - I Don't Wanna Dance 28 David Bowie – Let's Dance 28 Flying Pickets – Only you 27 Spandau Ballet – True 25 KC & the Sunshine Band – Give it up 25 Irene Cara – Fame 24 Kajagoogoo – Too shy 23 Captain Sensible – Happy Talk 16 Paul Young – Wherever I lay my hat (that's my home) 15 Phil Collins – You can´t hurry love 15 Survivor – Eye of the tiger -3 11 Bucks Fizz – The Land of Make Believe 05 Culture Club – Karma Chameleon 03 Musical Youth – Pass the Dutchie -3 02 Adam Ant — Goody two shoes Dutchie inoffensively cute enough, but "cute" not enough to cut it in this game when all the gunk's been cleared out

He was picked again, by the same team as last time. Fascinating enough story I would've been annoyed if he was LotM!

Unpicked this year's DDP.

Can confirm the DDP got completely bored of him. At least if Scott Thorson somehow dies this year, 10 of you picked him. I joked he was dying on the DDP News Ticker in the final days of the year, which given it seemingly inspired people to pick him, almost makes me feel bad. Almost.

38 The Jam – Town called Malice +1 37 Madness – House of fun 36 Kraftwerk – The Model / Computer Love 33 Men at Work – Down Under +1 31 Musical Youth — Pass the Dutchie 30 Bonnie Tyler – Total eclipse of the heart +1 29 Irene Cara – Fame +1 28 Culture Club – Do you really want to hurt me? 28 David Bowie - Let's Dance 27 Police – Every Breath You Take 25 Eddy Grant – I don´t wanna dance 24 Flying Pickets – Only you 24 Kajagoogoo – Too shy 23 Survivor – Eye of the tiger 23 Spandau Ballet – True 22 Captain Sensible – Happy Talk 22 Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know 21 KC & the Sunshine Band – Give it up 20 Phil Collins – You can´t hurry love 19 Paul Young – Wherever I lay my hat (that's my home) 17 Bucks Fizz – The Land of Make Believe 15 Culture Club – Karma Chameleon 15 Billy Joel - Uptown Girl 14 Adam Ant – Goody two shoes 11 Rod Stewart – Baby Jane 07 The Jam – Beat Surrender 07 Nicole – A little peace -6

I knew Charles Schulz was a recent death - I had a big book on famous names that had a DOD for him - but don't believe I knew his death as it happened. First where I was definitely aware of the death itself was Rosa Parks. I do remember having this annual children's almanac, had a section on the presidents. I always checked Gerald Ford's info to see if he died, since at the time he was the earliest living. Punchline? I didn't entertain the possibility of a more recent president dying before him, so I fully missed out on Reagan's info being updated with a death date!

^ Mark Stokes is also pending QO

He was quite the cult pick in the 2015 DDP. LotM, hasn't been picked since 2020.

37 The Jam – Town called Malice +2 36 Madness – House of fun 29 David Bowie – Let´s Dance 29 Kraftwerk – The Model / Computer Love 28 Captain Sensible – Happy Talk 27 Men at Work – Down Under 27 Bonnie Tyler – Total eclipse of the heart 27 Irene Cara – Fame +2 26 Police – Every Breath You Take 26 Musical Youth – Pass the dutchie 25 Eddy Grant – I don´t wanna dance 24 Flying Pickets – Only you 24 Culture Club – Do you really want to hurt me 23 Kajagoogoo – Too shy 23 Phil Collins – You can´t hurry love 23 Billy Joel — Uptown Girl 22 Spandau Ballet – True 22 Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know 22 Survivor – Eye of the tiger 20 Paul Young – Wherever I lay my hat (that's my home) 20 KC & the Sunshine Band – Give it up 18 The Jam – Beat Surrender 17 Adam Ant – Goody two shoes 17 Bucks Fizz – The Land of Make Believe 16 Nicole – A little peace 15 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen 14 Rod Stewart – Baby Jane 14 Culture Club – Karma Chameleon 13 New Edition – Candy Girl 2 UB40 - Red Red Wine -6

31 David Bowie – Let´s Dance 28 Kraftwerk – The Model / Computer Love 28 Madness – House of fun 28 Bonnie Tyler – Total eclipse of the heart +1 28 The Jam – A town called Malice +3 26 Captain Sensible – Happy Talk 26 Musical Youth – Pass the dutchie 24 Flying Pickets – Only you 22 Spandau Ballet – True 22 Police – Every breath you take 22 Bucks Fizz - The Land of Make Believe 22 Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know 22 Phil Collins – You can´t hurry love 21 Men at Work – Down Under 21 Eddy Grant – I don´t wanna dance 21 Kajagoogoo – Too shy 21 Irene Cara – Fame 21 Billy Joel – Uptown Girl 21 Adam Ant – Goody two shoes 20 Bucks Fizz – My camera never lies 20 Nicole – A little peace 20 Culture Club – Do you really want to hurt me 20 Paul Young – Wherever I lay my hat (that's my home) 20 KC & the Sunshine Band – Give it up  20 The Jam – Beat Surrender 19 Survivor – Eye of the tiger 16 New Edition – Candy Girl 14 Rod Stewart – Baby Jane 14 Culture Club – Karma Chameleon 14 UB40 – Red red wine 13 Dexy´s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen 12 Michael Jackson — Billie Jean 12 Renee & Renato – Save your love 10 Charlene – I´ve never been to me -6 8 Goombay Dance Band - Seven Tears 1 Tight Fit —The lion sleeps tonight

Good catch. I deferred to the fact that her celeb code had 021 in it, but that precludes DDPs from before 2003.

I can go ahead and edit her in to the 2022 LotM page since it has no impact on the completed game.

Call Me in the final throes of this round was like a drol immortal. On life support longer than expected, staged a "miraculous recovery" in its final hours, then proclaimed DEAD in all caps.

Just confirming that the committee is now working on the celeb data entry for 1,091 new celebs. No ETA yet on official release, but if all goes as planned should be about a week's wait?

List of the Missed. Somewhat surprisingly to me, she was only ever picked in 2021, thought she'd be a youngish punt pick more often.

43 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 36 The Specials — Ghost Town 39 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes 32 The Human League — Don't You Want Me 30 Blondie — Call Me  28 Blondie — Atomic +4 2 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket -6 (only added 2 points to Atomic's tally given Toast added 6)

Four 2023 teams picked her.

58 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 42 The Specials — Ghost Town 41 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes 36 Blondie — Atomic +4 32 The Human League — Don't You Want Me 31 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket -6 12 Blondie — Call Me

*nods affirmatively*

A Crumble pick last year's DDP, but he dropped him this time.

Can confirm he's LotM as none of the 2023 teams have him. 2019 was the only time he was ever picked.

54 Soft Cell — Tainted Love 52 Blondie — Atomic +4 49 The Pretenders — Brass in Pocket -6 38 The Human League — Don't You Want Me 36 David Bowie — Ashes to Ashes 33 Blondie —Call Me 24 The Specials — Ghost Town

TWTIA was either my first or second favorite of this lot, in a very close tie with Atomic. But the latter is still in it so that sweetens the pill.

Another year, another Hartlepool Deadlypool, with eccentric bonuses and orderly emphasis galore. 2021 perhaps hasn't been the banner year for celeb deaths that 2020 was but that's not entirely a bad thing, especially if the price for that was losing Rush Limbaugh. We did lose Bob Dole and Dilip Kumar too, somehow, but we still have ol' Jimmy Carter. Maybe that jolly peanut farmer held some sort of office that gets him extra points if he goes... Rules are unchanged from last year. As always, I will wait until entering all of my teams for deadpools beginning on January 1 before viewing and entering PMed teams. However I aim to take care of all my teams this weekend so that probably will not be a long wait! 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 2022, 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, 2022 are able to count as hits, the 2022 HPDP will officially close 23:59 GMT on January 7, 2023, to allow some breathing room for late-year deaths that might take a few days to accrue a proper obit.