Magic Alex
Yannis Alexis Mardas arrived in England on a student visa in 1965. He was just twenty-three years old when he exhibited his Kinetic Light Sculptures at the Indica Gallery in London. Brian Dunbar, who ran the gallery, introduced him to John Lennon that same year. Lennon stared for hours at a small plastic box with randomly blinking lights that Mardas called the Nothing Box. This object became the key to entering the inner circle of the Beatles. Mardas claimed he could build a 72-track tape machine and promised futuristic devices like invisible paint and force fields around homes. He later disavowed these promises but had already secured a place by their side. George Harrison and Paul McCartney watched as Lennon embraced this Greek inventor as his new guru. The nickname Magic Alex stuck immediately after their first meeting.
Mardas received £40 a week plus ten percent of profits from his inventions when Apple Corps hired him in September 1967. His laboratory sat at 34 Boston Place in Westminster where he wore a white coat while surrounded by oscillating noises. A mysterious fire prevented him from presenting many of his inventions before the project collapsed. When the Beatles needed a recording studio in January 1969 they found an unusable basement on Savile Row. There was no 72-track tape deck because Mardas reduced it to only sixteen tracks. Soundproofing was missing along with any talkback system or patch bay for wiring. The mixing console looked like bits of wood attached to an old oscilloscope according to Dave Harries. George Martin called it chaos and ordered everyone to rip everything out and start again. The final cost to Apple reached at least three hundred thousand pounds. Brian Epstein's assistant Peter Brown noted that Mardas had never even been inside the basement of Savile Row during construction.
The Beatles discussed buying Trinity Island off Euboea in Greece on the 19th of July 1967. Harrison flew to Athens with Pattie Boyd and Ringo Starr staying overnight at Mardas parents house. Lennon brought Cynthia and Julian along with McCartney Jane Asher and Mal Evans. Their chartered yacht MV Arvi got detained in Crete due to bad weather forcing them to wait three days in Athens. Photographers waited around corners to capture images of the group as they walked through peaceful roads. They eventually located what became known as Leslo island which featured four beaches and a large olive grove. Four small neighboring islands surrounded the main landmass offering one spot for each Beatle. Alistair Taylor returned to London to handle the purchase while £90,000 in special export dollars were secured for the transaction. Exchange rates rose months later allowing those funds to be sold for an eleven thousand four hundred pound profit. This remains one of the few profitable ventures undertaken by the band during their entire history.
Cynthia Lennon arrived home early from Greece on the 22nd of May 1968 after discovering John and Yoko Ono staring into each other's eyes. She asked Brian Dunbar if she could spend the night at his apartment where Mardas was present. Mardas got Cynthia drunk and tried to convince her that they should run away together before joining her on a bed in the spare bedroom. He attempted to kiss her until she pushed him away according to her own account. Peter Brown claimed Cynthia did sleep with Mardas but admitted it was a mistake from the start. An agitated Mardas appeared outside her hotel in Italy pacing up and down without prior knowledge of her location. He told her that John planned to sue for divorce citing adultery as grounds while seeking sole custody of Julian. Cynthia stated she felt coerced into making things easy for John and Yoko to avoid looking bad themselves. The story about sexual impropriety at the Maharishi ashram also emerged during this period when Mardas accused the spiritual leader of misconduct.
King Hussein of Jordan ordered six Mercedes 450 limousines in 1977 only to discover they were not safe enough. His ex-SAS bodyguards tested one car by firing guns at it in July 1977 causing an emergency air cylinder to explode and destroy the fuel tank. The Sultan of Oman received similar results when bullets pierced armor plating and thick glass shattered into jagged splinters during live ammunition tests in November 1977. These failures convinced Mardas to set up a factory producing bulletproof cars in London using over one million pounds from anonymous Swiss bank accounts. Ex-King Constantine II acted as principal salesman securing contracts with royal families including Juan Carlos of Spain. One car shipped to England sat parked in Chobham for almost a year because no one knew how to upgrade it properly. The second contract worth over half a million pounds allowed Alcom Devices Ltd to provide sophisticated communications systems for Juan Carlos. Arthur Johnson formerly a Ministry of Defence official joined the team to manage operations.
The Observer published an article naming Mardas as an arms dealer on the 28th of February 1988 before printing an apology two months later. The People newspaper faced court action after articles titled Joan's Secret Lover appeared in September 1988 resulting in seventy-five thousand pounds in damages awarded to Mardas. The Daily Mail issued an apology and paid undisclosed sums following accusations made in June 2003 about dealings that resurfaced years later. The Independent corrected its reporting on the 14th of June 2006 admitting errors regarding Apple Electronics employment status. They acknowledged Mardas had not been fired but resigned his directorship while retaining shareholding until transferring ownership back to Apple Corps. In March 2010 The New York Times published an editor update clarifying their stance on labeling him a charlatan during the Maharishi period. Allan Kozinn originally wrote that Alexis Mardas was a supposed inventor who became a Beatles insider. Mardas won the right to sue over these claims but decided against pursuing further legal action once the paper explained its position publicly.
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Common questions
When did Yannis Alexis Mardas arrive in England and what was his age?
Yannis Alexis Mardas arrived in England on a student visa in 1965 at the age of twenty-three. He exhibited his Kinetic Light Sculptures at the Indica Gallery in London that same year.
What happened to the Apple Corps recording studio project on Savile Row in January 1969?
The Beatles found an unusable basement on Savile Row lacking soundproofing, a talkback system, or patch bay for wiring. George Martin ordered everyone to rip out the equipment because the mixing console looked like bits of wood attached to an old oscilloscope.
How much money did the band make from buying Trinity Island off Euboea in Greece on the 19th of July 1967?
Exchange rates rose months later allowing £90,000 in special export dollars to be sold for an eleven thousand four hundred pound profit. This remains one of the few profitable ventures undertaken by the band during their entire history.
Why did Cynthia Lennon feel coerced regarding John and Yoko Ono after returning home early from Greece on the 22nd of May 1968?
Cynthia stated she felt coerced into making things easy for John and Yoko to avoid looking bad themselves after Mardas claimed John planned to sue for divorce citing adultery as grounds. She also faced accusations about sexual impropriety at the Maharishi ashram when Mardas accused the spiritual leader of misconduct.
What caused King Hussein of Jordan to order six Mercedes 450 limousines to fail safety tests in 1977?
His ex-SAS bodyguards tested one car by firing guns at it in July 1977 causing an emergency air cylinder to explode and destroy the fuel tank. The Sultan of Oman received similar results when bullets pierced armor plating and thick glass shattered into jagged splinters during live ammunition tests in November 1977.