This magnificent church, of Greek Orthodox persuasion, served as the venue for "Magic" Alex's wedding, at lunchtime on July 11, 1968. The previous day, Alex had gone round the Apple office informing all and sundry of "imminent nuptials" - but no-one believed it. Thus, it took some frantic early morning phone calls to round up guests.
His two best men were Donovan and Winston, whose duties included crowning the bride with a double tiara of forest flowers, as you do. Also in attendance were Yoko, George and Pattie, amongst forty others.
Admirers of minutiae may well note that later this day, John went on to Abbey Road, where he oversaw the electric piano stylings of Nicky Hopkins on the single version of Revolution.
Thanks again go to Ian Drummond for sharing his archive.
Nice story! I didn't know Mardas had any relations with Donovan! (I'm greek,by the way)
ReplyDelete"Magic" Alex was a charlatan, a crackpot inventor with no real skills. Yes these were heady times but I have always wondered why John bonded with someone like Alex when he (John) was on top of the world.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe. But it should be said that Alex himself has strongly refuted a lot of these stories about him...and it's also debatable that John was "on top of the world". People who knew him at the time, such as Pete Shotton, have said that John was basically deeply unhappy once the initial thrill of Beatlemania wore off. (And by most accounts (not Cynthia's - but that's another story) Alex was at least an amiable chap.)
ReplyDeleteI agree that John - post Sgt Pepper - was somewhat lost. Pete Shotton is the by far the best source of info during this period.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I believe the simple answer regarding Mardas is that he was both amiable and entertaining.
Great photos, never seen those before.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics - thanks for posting them. Imagine having John Lennon as your best man! You'd have to go some to beat that!
ReplyDelete