A CAMPAIGN to get late comedian Rik Mayall’s forgotten World Cup anthem to number one has been launched by a south Essex DJ.

Jon Morter, 40, who also initiated the campaign for Rage Against the Machine to beat X Factor’s Joe McElderry to the 2009 Christmas number one spot, worked on Rik’s video when it was released four years ago.

Jon, from South Woodham Ferrers, believes a number one hit would be the perfect tribute for Rik, who died this week aged 56 He said: “He had a presence, he was a brilliant guy and you just wanted to chat to him.

“When we were filming the video, we rode a golf cart around Leeds Castle with Rik dressed up as King Henry V in a big regal cloak, waving at people and putting on a regal voice.

“He was a lot of fun and it was a privilege to meet him.

“When we sadly lost Rik, a lot of people were getting in touch saying ‘didn’t you work with him?’ and I said let’s do something to commemorate it.“ The Facebook campaign, called Rik Mayall Noble England for World Cup No.1, has more than 18,000 likes and it was already reached number one in the Amazon charts.

The little-known song entitled Noble England was written by Rik to combine two of England’s favourite traditions – football and Shakespeare – and features lines from Henry V set over a football chant.

Jon said: “It’s a different take and that’s what I like about it. There were so many football songs around in 2010 and they’ve been done so many times before but Rik’s is certainly original.”