As the new Bank of England 20-pound note makes its debut, featuring economist Adam Smith, a survey suggests Britons want better-known and more modern characters on their money.

World War II leader Winston Churchill topped the Virgin Money survey with 52 percent of the vote.

He beat other well-known names including physicist Stephen Hawking (8 percent), Beatle John Lennon (7 percent) and comedian Spike Milligan (7 percent).

Tony Blair and his successor-in-waiting, Chancellor Gordon Brown, scraped in at the bottom of the list, taking 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent of the vote respectively.

Only Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty kept them off the bottom of the table.

Among the women, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst finished just ahead of Princess Diana, taking 25.9 percent of the vote compared to 23 percent.

Romantic author Jane Austen (12 percent), Margaret Thatcher (11 percent) and Beatrix Potter (9 percent) also scored highly.

Prince William's girlfriend and possible future queen, Kate Middleton, secured only 0.2 percent of the vote.

She was marginally less popular than Victoria Beckham (0.6 percent), Big Brother loudmouth Jade Goody (0.9 percent) and glamour model Keeley Hazell.

Three-quarters of Britons have no idea who Adam Smith was, according to the poll.

One in 10 believed Smith, the "father of economics", was a politician and 15 percent thought he was an artist.

Jason Wyer-Smith, a spokesman for Virgin Money, said: "Brits work hard enough to earn their money, so perhaps we should all have more of a say on whose faces we see when we spend it."

The survey of 1,267 adults was undertaken by independent market research organization tickbox.

Source: China Daily/agencies