Alexis Mardas, who has died aged 74, was an intriguing figure in the story of The Beatles, a self-proclaimed electronic genius and inventor known to his circle as "Magic Alex".
Mardas had moved to London from his native Greece in 1965 and worked as a television repairman. At a time when almost anything seemed to be possible for someone with the gift of the gab, he went on to exhibit his "kinetic light sculptures" at the Indica Gallery – one of which was bought by the Rolling Stones. The group's guitarist Brian Jones introduced him to John Lennon.
![John Lennon with wife Yoko Ono and Greek host, Alexis Mardas, during a tour of Athens' shops.](/web/20170127212522im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/y/a/i/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtyadb.png/1485308821006.jpg)
Lennon was dazzled by Mardas's patter and when Mardas produced a "Nothing Box" (a small plastic box containing randomly flashing coloured lights), he would stare at it for hours while tripping on LSD. Before long "Magic Alex" had become Lennon's "guru" and best friend.
Among other claims, Mardas was said to have promised to construct a protective force field around Lennon's house; he made George Harrison empty boxes supposedly containing mystic light (at great expense), and asked for the engines from Lennon's Rolls-Royce and Harrison's Ferrari so he could build a flying saucer.
In 1968, Mardas became one of the first employees of Apple Corps, as head of Apple Electronics. The Beatles spent thousands on a laboratory in which Mardas, resplendent in a white lab coat, installed an impressive-looking array of pulsating, bleeping electronic gadgetry.
He promised X-ray cameras, houses that floated on air, loudspeakers made of wallpaper and a hovering electric sun. But the sun never shone, and of the 100-odd patents applied for none were accepted and nothing was ever produced.
Lennon served as best man at Mardas's wedding to Eufrosyne Doxiades in 1968. The same year Mardas accompanied The Beatles and sundry wives and girlfriends when they visited the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Rishikesh in India where, apparently sensing a rival, he claimed that the Hindu holy man had been getting a little too spiritually intimate with his female followers, causing the band to pack their bags and leave.
A few weeks later Lennon encouraged his wife Cynthia to take a holiday in Greece with Mardas and others. On her return she discovered that Yoko Ono had moved in with her husband. She spent the night in a friend's house fending off Mardas's advances.
The Beatles' faith in Magic Alex led them to commission him to design a 72-track studio in the basement of Apple's Savile Row offices (8-track studios were the norm) which was to be far superior to EMI's Abbey Road studio. But when The Beatles turned up to record what would be their final album, Get Back (later retitled Let It Be), they found "the biggest disaster of all time", in George Harrison's words.
The following year The Beatles' new manager, Allen Klein, closed Apple Electronics.
Mardas vanished, having cost Apple the equivalent of £4 million in today's money.
Yanni Alexis Mardas was born on May 2 1942 in Athens. His father was an officer in either the Greek Army or the Greek secret police.
He continued to benefit from his association with The Beatles, winning several libel actions against those who accused him of conning the group.
By the 1990s Mardas had returned to Greece, where he was married for a second time to an actress with whom he had a daughter.
Telegraph, London