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Although the Greek island compound had been John’s idea, for whatever reason George and Ringo flew to Athens ahead of the others, along with Pattie Harrison and Neil Aspinall. Maybe to make sure it was safe — there had been a great deal of turmoil in Greece of late, and the country was now in the hands of a military dictatorship.
This did not concern John, who said,
I’m not worried about the political situation in Greece, as long as it doesn’t affect us. I don’t care if the government is all fascist, or communist. I don’t care. They’re all as bad as here.
But still, why not send George and Ringo on ahead, let them test the waters? During their time in Athens they stayed with Magic Alex and his father, who just happened to be a major in the Greek secret police.
Spoiler alert, The Beatles did in fact end up buying an island, but never lived on it. That was simply another of the many Utopian fantasies of the Summer of Love that never came to pass. Today’s entry on The Beatles Bible offers this great quote from Ringo:
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.
That was what happened when we got out. It was safer making records, because once they let us out we’d just go barmy.
Barmy. What a great word. Maybe the greatest word. I don’t know. Some people think so.