Mr. Shifter Shifts PG Tips

PG Tips is a brand of tea in the United Kingdom; its manufacturers Unilever UK claims that Britons drink 35 million cups of PG Tips a day. Since 1956, in the longest running advertising campaign for any brand, PG Tips often advertised using chimpanzees dressed as humans and drinking tea: the “Tipps family”.

One of these adverts, called “Mr. Shifter” holds the world record, for the advert shown most times on British Television. A whole range of figurine chimps were made as collector’s editions for PG Tips, and some are very rare. All the chimps in the adverts were featured (including Kevin Tipps and Mr. Shifter).

Michael Robbins (November 14, 1930 – December 11, 1992) was a British actor known for his television work. Formerly a bank clerk, he became an actor after appearing in amateur dramatic performances in Hitchin in Hertfordshire, where he lived at the time. Primarily a comedy actor, he is best known for the role of Arthur Rudge (the persistently sarcastic husband of Olive, who was played by Anna Karen) in the popular sitcom On the Buses.