Editing The Ashes (section)

==Cultural references==
[[File:The Ashes Urn Replica (2016).jpg|thumb|left|A modern-day replica of [[The Ashes urn]]]]

The popularity and reputation of the cricket series has led to other sports and games using the name "Ashes" for contests between England/Great Britain and Australia. The best-known and longest-running of these events is the [[rugby league]] [[The Ashes (rugby league)|Ashes]] competition between [[Great Britain national rugby league team|Great Britain]] now [[England national rugby league team|England]] and [[Australia national rugby league team|Australia]] national rugby league teams. Use of the name "Ashes" was suggested by the Australian team when rugby league matches between the two countries commenced in 1908. Other examples included the television game shows ''[[Gladiators (TV series)|Gladiators]]'' and ''[[Sale of the Century (Australian game show)|Sale of the Century]]'', both of which broadcast special editions containing contestants from the Australian and English versions of the shows competing against each other.

The term was further genericised in Australia in the first half of the twentieth century, and was used to describe the most prominent rivalry or competition within a sport even if outside the context of Australia vs England. The [[Australian rules football]] [[Interstate matches in Australian rules football|interstate carnival]], and the small silver casket which served as its trophy, were symbolically known as "the Ashes" of Australian football,<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Daily Herald|publication-place=Adelaide, SA|title=Carnival champions – presentation of the Ashes|page=9}}</ref> and was spoken of as such until at least the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Barrier Daily Truth|publication-place=Broken Hill, NSW|page=6|title=Victoria's football ashes|date=11 August 1947}}</ref> The soccer rivalry between Australia and New Zealand was described as "the soccer ashes of Australasia" until as late as the 1950s;<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Sporting Globe|publication-place=Melbourne, VIC|title=Kiwis to win the Ashes|author=J. O. Wishaw|page=7|date=25 August 1954}}</ref> ashes from cigars smoked by the two countries' captains were put into a casket in 1923 to make the trophy literal.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Referee|publication-place=Sydney, NSW|page=16|title=The soccer ashes of Australasia|date=16 April 1924}}</ref> The interstate rugby league [[State of Origin series#Interstate rugby league before 1980|rivalry between Queensland and New South Wales]] was known for a time as Australia's rugby league ashes, and [[lawn bowls|bowls]] competitions between the two states also regularly used the term.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Brisbane Courier|publication-place=Brisbane, QLD|title=Bowls – N.S.W. "Knuts" retain the "Ashes"|page=3|date=14 July 1920}}</ref> Even some local rivalries, such as southern Western Australia's annual Great Southern Football Carnival, were locally described as "the ashes".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Great Southern Herald|publication-place=Katanning, WA|page=3|date=21 September 1935|title=Great Southern Football Carnival}}</ref> This genericised usage is no longer common, and "the Ashes" would today be assumed only to apply to a contest between Australia and England.

The Ashes featured in the film ''[[The Final Test]]'', released in 1953, based on a television play by [[Terence Rattigan]]. It stars [[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]] as an England cricketer playing the last Test of his career, which is the last of an Ashes series; the film includes cameo appearances of English captain [[Len Hutton]] and other players<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045769/|title=The Final Test (1953)|publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]]|access-date=13 July 2013|archive-date=4 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104033237/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045769/|url-status=live}}</ref> who were part of England's 1953 triumph.

[[Douglas Adams]]'s 1982 science fiction comedy novel ''[[Life, the Universe and Everything]]'' – the third part of ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' series – features the urn containing the Ashes as a significant element of its plot. The urn is stolen by alien robots, as the burnt stump inside is part of a key needed to unlock the "Wikkit Gate" and release an imprisoned world called Krikkit.

''[[Bodyline (miniseries)|Bodyline]]'', a fictionalised television [[miniseries]] based on the "[[Bodyline]]" Ashes series of 1932–33, was screened in Australia in 1984. The cast included [[Gary Sweet]] as [[Donald Bradman]] and [[Hugo Weaving]] as England captain [[Douglas Jardine]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frith|first1=David|title=Bodyline Autopsy: The full story of the most sensational Test cricket series: Australia v England 1932–33|date=24 June 2013|publisher=Aurum Press|isbn=9781781311936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ijnLAgAAQBAJ|language=en}}</ref>

In the 1938 film ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'', [[Charters and Caldicott]], played by [[Basil Radford]] and [[Naunton Wayne]], are two cricket fans who are desperate to get home from Europe in order to see the last day's play in the [[Australian cricket team in England in 1938#Third Test|Third Test at Manchester]]. It is not until they see a newsboy's poster near the end of the film that they discover that the match had been abandoned, due to floods.