John Lennon and Paul McCartney travel from Greece to England

About

On July 22, 1967, The Beatles and their entourage arrived in Greece with the intention of exploring a group of Greek islands they were interested in purchasing to live on. The remaining group members, George and Pattie Harrison, Ringo Starr and Neil Aspinall, had already travelled to Greece two days before.

Ringo Starr and Neil Aspinall left four days later, without seeing the islands. The remaining Beatles, along with their families, visited the islands on July 26 and fell in love with the place. Alistair Taylor was asked to proceed with the purchase, upon his return to London.

George Harrison, his wife Pattie and Mal Evans left on July 29. And on July 30 or July 31, Paul McCartney and Jane Asher, John, Cynthia, and Julian Lennon, Alexis “Magic Alex” Mardas and Pattie Harrison’s sister Paula Boyd flew from Athens to London, concluding their ten-day holiday in Greece.

Back in London, the project led to many administrative complexities, causing The Beatles to become tired of it. To proceed with the purchase, they had to buy “premium dollars” from the English government. They got permission to use £95,000 for their project, which was enough for buying the islands, but not enough for the envisioned construction work. The £95,000 worth of dollars was sold back to the government, and the value had risen, giving The Beatles a profit of £11,400 on the unrealised deal.

---

It came to nothing. We didn’t buy an island, we came home. We were great at going on holiday with big ideas, but we never carried them out. We were also going to buy a village in England – one with rows of houses on four sides and a village green in the middle. We were going to have a side each.

Ringo Starr – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

The Beatles loved the islands that Magic Alex picked out for them, and I tried to make the arrangements to purchase them in London. Bryce-Hamner was instructed to purchase the necessary “premium dollars” from the English government to buy foreign property. The Beatles applied for £95,000, on which they had to pay a 25 percent premium per pound. The Beatles’ accountant prepared an analysis that showed the Beatles had only £137,000 in cash to spend and that purchasing the islands would be disastrous to their finances. But the Beatles persisted, and arrangements for the purchase were made directly with James Callahan, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In a letter Callahan sent to the Beatles, he pointed out that £95,000 was the absolute limit to the amount of pounds he would allow to flow outside of the country. He added at the bottom of the letter, in his own hand, “But not a penny more… I wonder how you’re going to furnish it?” The islands finally turned into so much of a hassle, like everything else they wanted to do, they quickly tired of the problems and sold the property dollars back to the government at the new going rate of 37 percent, making a handsome profit of £11,400 in the process.

Peter Brown – From “The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles“, 2002

When we got back to London, we discovered that while the Government would allow us to spend the £90,000 they would not sanction the extra expense necessary to build homes and the planned recording studio. We got a letter signed by James Callaghan detailing this great concession in view of the boys’ services to exports and the recording industry. I’m sure that Brian could have diverted money that was already held abroad. But Brian was rather straight about things like that and he firmly refused to break even the spirit of the law, let alone the letter. The Beatles battled on for weeks and I was endlessly occupied by the project. We got lawyers’ opinions, drafted appeals, and tried to recruit support for the purchase. Then Neil came to me with the news that the Beatles were fed up with all the aggro associated with the island and wanted to forget the whole thing.

Alistair Taylor – From “With the Beatles: A Stunning Insight by The Man who was with the Band Every Step of the Way“, 2011

It was about the only time The Beatles ever made any money on a business venture. To make the purchase, we’d changed the money into international dollars or some currency. Then, when they changed the money back, the exchange rate had gone up and so we made about twenty shillings or so.

George Harrison – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

---

---

Last updated on April 1, 2024