calculate the speed at which the water is flowing. Terry Pratchett mentioned the game in Thud! (2005) as a popular children's game played in the gutters during Sam Vimes' childhood in Ankh-Morpork, originally called "turd races" before renaming it "poosticks" to take the game upmarket. Julia Donaldson mentioned the game in her children's book Stick Man (2008) when the protagonist, Stick Man, is used by a girl in a game of Poohsticks. In Season 14, Episode 2 (2010) of Midsomer Murders a group of children play Poohsticks, as DCI John Barnaby and DS Ben Jones drive by. Jones instructs children not to play on the road, Barnaby explains the game to Jones and recommends him to hang on to childhood poetry. The still-playing children later find a dead body floating in the stream. In Season 5, Episode 7 (2014) of Downton Abbey, Tom Branson and young Sybil play a game of Poohsticks, without referencing the game by name, while he is telling her of his idea to leave Downton and move them to Boston. The Welsh indie pop band The Pooh Sticks is named partly in homage to the game. The song "Twydale's Lament" by British band Half Man Half Biscuit, on their 2005 album Achtung Bono, includes the line, "I saw a young professional couple playing poohsticks on a Cotswold bridge". References External links World Pooh Sticks Championships Home Page The Rotary Club of Sinodun The Rotary Club of Oxford Spires Map and aerial photo sources for grid reference: — Poohsticks Bridge near Hartfield — marked on the Ordnance Survey "25k" map — Day's Lock and the Sinodun Hills Bruce Hemming's page about the Poohsticks Bridge with QuickTime panorama — note that the coordinates given are in error by 25 km Outdoor games Winnie-the-Pooh Culture associated with the River Thames Fictional games