The past year has seen a number of celebrities and famous figures lose their lives.
The biggest figures who died in 2022 include, of course, Queen Elizabeth II, as the longest reign in British history came to an end. Other notable names who passed away include Sidney Poiter, the first black man to win the Oscar for best actor, Harry Potter star Robbie Coltrane, cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James, and Grease actress Olivia Newton-John.
As the year draws to a close, the Standard looks back at some of the famous faces who have died this year.
Queen Elizabeth II
Born in London on 21 April 1926, she became Queen in 1952 at the age of 25, following the death of her father, King George VI. She was also head of the Commonwealth, commander-in-chief of the British armed forces, and supreme governor of the Church of England, as well as patron of more than 600 charities and organisations.
Away from her official duties, she was a devoted wife and mother to four children, and dedicated grandmother to eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Sidney Poitier
Known for highlighting issues faced by black people at the time, the Hollywood star appeared in dozens of films and TV shows including In The Heat Of The Night, Blackboard Jungle and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.
As well as being a decorated actor, he was also an international diplomat, serving as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan between 1997 and 2007, and to UNESCO between 2002 and 2007. Knighted in 1974, in 2009 he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the US, by Barack Obama.
Poitier died aged 94 in January, primarily of heart failure after also suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and prostate cancer, according to his death certificate. Mr Obama led the tributes to a star who “epitomised dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together”.
Dame Olivia Newton-John
Prior to her starring role, she represented the UK at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing fourth, in the year ABBA won with Waterloo.
Also a four-time Grammy Award winner, she featured in five number one hits on America’s Billboard Hot 100, and sold more than 100 million records.
Following the first of three cancer diagnoses in 1992, she became a prominent breast cancer campaigner.
Dame Olivia died aged 73 in August, with Travolta saying in tribute: “Yours from the moment I saw you and forever!”
Dame Deborah James
The You, Me and The Big C podcast host revealed in May that she had moved into end-of-life hospice care at home and within 24 hours, had raised more than £1.6m for research into the disease.
The Bowel Babe fund continued to rise, reaching more than £7.5m following her death in June aged 40.
Jamal Edwards
The music industry was rocked aby the sudden death at the age of 31 of Jamal Edwards, who founded online urban music platform SBTV, which helped launch the careers of artists like Dave, Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and Skepta.
Ms Edwards went on to set up the Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust, helping good causes in her son’s memory.
He was also the first person to be honoured posthumously at the annual Music Industry Trusts Award ceremony in November 2022.
Tom Parker
In October 2020 he revealed that he had been diagnosed with a stage four glioblastoma and had gone through chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
During the last few months of his life, he concentrated on raising funds for cancer research and called for better treatment for those suffering from brain illnesses, telling an all-parliamentary group that he was “staggered” the COVID vaccine had been developed so quickly “but, for decades on end, they haven’t found better treatments let alone a cure for brain tumours”.
The Bolton-born star even reunited with his bandmates on stage for their first show in seven years.
He died in March aged 33 leaving behind his wife Kelsey and their two young children Aurelia and Bodhi.
Pele
The Brazilian forward, widely regarded as one of the best footballers of all time, had been in hospital in Sao Paulo since late November.
In a statement, the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo said Pele died at 3.27pm local time on Thursday “due to the failure of multiple organs as a result of the progression of colon cancer”.
Brazil’s government announced it would hold three days of national mourning for the “great man and superb athlete”, who scored an incredible 1,281 goals across the length of his career.
Pele won the World Cup with Brazil three times, in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
Dame Vivienne, who was born in Cheshire in 1941, is largely accepted as being responsible for bringing punk and new wave fashion into the mainstream with her eccentric designs.
Her designs were regularly worn by high-profile individuals including Dita Von Teese who wore a purple Westwood wedding gown to marry Marilyn Manson, and Princess Eugenie who wore three Westwood designs for various elements of the wedding of William and Kate Middleton.
The Pretenders’ frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, who worked at Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s boutique in punk’s early days, sent her love to her departed friend.
“Vivienne is gone and the world is already a less interesting place. Love you Viv,” Hynde tweeted.
Model Bella Hadid described the designer as the most “epic human being that has walked this earth… my inspiration and idol in all things”.
