LONDON - Patriotic John Sewell is launching a one-man campaign to ensure a corner of the internet remains forever English.

He is lobbying web chiefs to allow people, organizations or companies to display their Englishness online in the new domain name ending .eng.

Sewell, of Maidenhead, Surrey, discovered there was no ‘dot eng’ movement, despite established campaigns by the Scots (for .sco) and the Welsh (for .cym).

So he set up his own online petition at www.doteng.org – and will deliver the signatures to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit outfit which oversees domain name endings.

Father-of-five Sewell, 47, said: "It’s typical of our character that there isn’t a big hoo-ha about having an English domain suffix.

“We don’t like to make a fuss as a nation. There’s a lot to celebrate but so often we do ourselves down.

“There’s nothing whatsoever political about this. I’m not a devotee of any political party.

“I suppose if it’s ‘about’ anything, for me it’s about remembering what’s great about England – tea, the Beatles, London, the Queen, beer, cricket.

“I was very ill recently and had to undergo a lot of hospital treatment. I didn’t know what to expect and I was very frightened.

“But the treatment I received on the National Health Service was nothing short of magnificent. And it made me realize that you don’t often hear about it when things go well.

“I think it would be nice to have a .eng available for people who want to let the world know via their domain that they’re English and proud of it.”

Namesco an award winning domain and hosting provider within the UK have offered industry knowledge and advice with regards to the campaign.

A spokesman for ICANN said John probably won’t even be able to start the application process until next year.