Magic Alex, Greek electronics engineer, Died at 74

  Reseacher

Yanni Alexis Mardas was born on May 2, 1942, and died on January 13, 2017.

He was also known as Magic Alex.

He was a Greek electronics engineer.

Alex was best known for his close association with the Beatles.

Alex’s nickname was given to him by John Lennon when he was involved with the group between 1965 and 1969, during which time he became head of Apple Electronics.

He arrived in England in 1965, exhibiting his Kinetic Light Sculptures at the Indica Gallery.

Mardas impressed John Lennon with the Nothing Box; a small plastic box with randomly blinking lights, and allegedly said that he could build a 72-track tape machine.

He was in India with the Beatles at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in India and was then given the job of designing the new Apple Studio in Savile Row.

Mardas’ schemes lost Apple at least £300,000 (£3 million in 2016 pounds).

During the 1970s, the anti-terrorism industry offered bullet-proof vehicles, bugging devices and security hardware, so Mardas set up companies offering these products to VIPs.

King Hussein of Jordan bought a fleet of cars that Mardas had customized, but then reportedly had the changes reversed when tests demonstrated them to be useless.

During 1987, he was a managing director of Alcom Ltd, which specialized in electronic communications and security.

Mardas later returned to Greece.

Magic Alex passed away at 74 years old.