He was the voice of the West Country, cruelly cut off in his prime, but now there are growing calls for Bristol Airport to be renamed... Adge Cutler International.

Liverpool has John Lennon, Sheffield has Robin Hood and Belfast has George Best.

Even holidaymakers travelling to Malaga in southern Spain land at Pablo Picasso Airport.

So, with the kind of tongue-in-cheek humour the founder of The Wurzels was so fond of, bosses at a firm based at Bristol International have started an internet-based campaign to get the airport renamed in his honour.

The numbers joining a Facebook group is mushrooming daily – by 20 per cent in the past three days alone – as Wurzels fans sign up to persuade the airport to mark its expansion with a name change.

It would, said organiser Phil Brockwell, be exactly the kind of Bristol- and Somerset-humoured way to respond to the ever-expanding list of pretentious airport names.

Earlier this month, the decision by the authorities in Oxford to rename the city's airport London Oxford was met with widespread derision, although it was another airport name change that sparked Mr Brockwell's campaign.

He said: "I heard that what used to be Lydd Airfield was now called London Ashford International, which is just ridiculous, as it is miles from London.

"So the conversation turned to all those places that have named their airports after their famous sons, and we were regretting that Bristol Airport isn't called Lulsgate Bottom anymore.

"It came from thinking of who would best represent Bristol and Somerset, typify this area and have the airport named after them."

Phil runs a private jet hire firm from the Lulsgate site, and believes Adge Cutler International would be a great name for the West's biggest airport.

"You think who else it could be, and you think perhaps of Cary Grant, but he made his name away from Bristol," added Phil.

"Adge is Somerset's answer to Jimmy Dean, a legend cut off in his prime.

"It would be brilliant – most people from the rest of the country have no idea who Adge is, and just imagine American tourists in the centre of Bristol asking for directions to Adge Cutler International.

"We had a new girl here and she was absolute Estuary English, and she'd never heard of Adge Cutler.

"We got all the music for her to listen to, and then she knew.

"A lot of the rest of our staff are from Clevedon and this area, and he's close to our hearts.

"It started as a joke between friends and it's just a bit of fun, but other airports take it all so seriously, so it would send a message to the rest of the country, and typify the sense of humour we're famous for."

● Alan John (AJ, or "Adge") Cutler, as all West Country folk know, was born in Portishead in 1931 and was once Acker Bilk's road manager.

● In 1966, aged 35, he formed Adge Cutler and The Wurzels, and wrote songs in West Country dialect, influenced by Bristolian singer Len "Uke" Thomas. Classic songs include Drink Up Thy Zyder and Thee's Gott'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n Hassn't.

● After eight years of regional acclaim, Adge was tragically killed on his way back from a Wurzels gig in Chepstow, at the age of 43.

● Two years later, with Pete Budd promoted from banjo to lead vocals, The Wurzels hit number one with Combine Harvester, and still gig to this day with many of Adge's old songs.

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