The Brooke Bond chimps have become British television legends, and the famous commercial with chimp removal men grappling with a piano – “Do you know the piano’s on my foot?” “You hum it – I’ll play it” – has been screened thousands of times.
The idea of using chimps to sell tea came to copywriter Rowley Marsh in 1955 after he saw a chimps’ tea party at London Zoo.
A year later, the first ad was shot around a dinner table in a stately home. The crew filmed everything the animals did, and Peter Sellers provided the voices, earning £100 for his work.
The first advert aired on Christmas Day 1956. Three years later, PG Tips was at the top spot, helped by a budget of nearly £700,000.
More than 40 personalities have since provided the voices for the chimpanzees, among them Stanley Baxter, Bruce Forsyth, Irene Handl, Bob Monkhouse and Kenneth Williams.
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The Brooke Bond chimps have become British television legends, and the famous commercial with chimp removal men grappling with a piano – “Do you know the piano’s on my foot?” “You hum it – I’ll play it” – has been screened thousands of times.
