2. The confusing island names that aren’t on any maps
Official records name the island the Beatles wanted - the difficulty is finding an actual location that this name applies to
No one disputes that in July 1967, the Beatles visited Greece and began the process of buying an island there. There’s less clarity over where exactly the group went, and which island they wanted to buy.
Several accounts tell us that before the group’s trip, the Beatles’ Greek friend Alexis Mardas, and their “Mr Fixit” Alistair Taylor, had already visited Greece to look at possible islands for the group. In his 1988 memoir, Yesterday – written in the form of letters to an imaginary Beatles fan – Taylor says that after traipsing around various unpromising sites, the two eventually came across the “perfect setting”.
"There's one big island of about eighty acres with four superb beaches and at least four other smaller islands surrounding it, all habitable. The main island has sixteen acres of olive groves, reckoned to produce the finest olives in the district. The village consists of half a dozen tall old Greek houses set on a gently curving bay which is filled with brightly coloured high-prowed wooden fishing boats. It turns out that one family owns the island and all the business on it and they want to sell it, houses, olive groves, the lot; £90,000 for the package."
There are similar accounts in other books by people who knew the Beatles at the time. Barry Miles’s description in his Paul McCartney biography closely aligns with Taylor’s, and also says that the main island was called Leslo. In his 1983 history of the Beatles The Love You Make, Peter Brown – who was a member of the Beatles’ inner circle as an assistant to Brian Epstein – gives slightly different details. He says the group were interested in a “tiny cluster of islands 25 miles out into the Aegean, 100 acres in all”, including a large main island and “five smaller satellite islands surrounding it”. Another description is provided by the person who was managing the administrative and business side of the island project: Stephen Maltz, then the Beatles’ accountant at the firm Bryce Hanmer. In his book the Beatles, Apple and Me, Maltz says the main island was “112 acres plus 5 little islands and five houses” and cost £86,915.
Although some details differ, these authors all report that the cost of the island the Beatles wanted was about £90,000, and that it had four or more smaller islands surrounding it. Several of the accounts also mention that the main island had acres of olive groves. And they all agree that after seeing the island, the group requested that the sale go ahead.
"When we finally arrived at the magical island that was for sale, the boys were instantly under its spell," writes Taylor. Though hospitable, the residents "were not overly interested in the Beatles," meaning that "the party was able to wander around drinking in the sublime tranquility of the place. To visit that island was to fall in love with it and that is what the Beatles and their womenfolk proceeded to do. I was swiftly ordered to get on with the purchase without delay."
Government permission
This was no straightforward matter: due to currency restrictions at the time, approval from the UK government was needed to make investments abroad such as buying property. Records of discussions over this are held in the UK National Archives in London. The file includes a letter from the Beatles’ solicitors to the Bank of England on 25 July 1967 requesting permission for the group to buy a Greek island as well as five smaller unnamed islands off its shore, believed to be uninhabited.
The main island had about 300,000 square metres (74 acres) of arable land as well as beaches, olive trees and rocks, according to the letter. It also says that the island had five fisherman's cottages, which the Beatles wanted to occupy. The cost would be £89,914 – meaning that including legal fees and repairing and furnishing the cottages, the Beatles would need to spend £120,000 in total.
The issue was considered carefully within government and was referred to a minister, the chief secretary to the Treasury John Diamond, who approved the Beatles' application on 13 August. But in the end, the sale would fall through. In a memo on 30 October, an official wrote that the group had decided not to go ahead with the purchase after being “advised of certain legal difficulties and additional sums required to acquire the land in question”.
When I looked at these documents, I’d hoped that they might clarify whether the island was indeed called Leslo – or offer some other clues about where it was. But the application from the Beatles’ lawyers omits some significant details. It states that the island has 300,000 square metres of arable land, but doesn’t actually give a size for the island itself. The name and address of the island's vendor are not provided, while its name is given as Aegos in Konstadinos. Neither Aegos nor Konstandinos are locations I can find on a map, any more than Leslo is. So now it seemed the island had been given not one, but two names which there appeared to be no record of.
Agia Triada island, also known as Ethereal
Possible islands
Various Greek islands are sometimes said to be the one the Beatles wanted to buy. On Skiathos, for example, I’d heard the rumour that the group were interested in the islet of Tsougria. Another island often cited is Agia Triada (Holy Trinity), which is not far from Athens and supposedly shaped like a guitar. This island – now being called ‘Ethereal’ by the auction house – is currently for sale at €7.5m, with two homes, olive trees, a church and a boatyard. But neither of these seems to match the specifications of an island that several accounts describe as being somewhere between 80 and 112 acres big, with four or more other islands surrounding it. Agia Triada is just 12 acres big, while Tsougria is almost 300. And while both have other islands nearby, it’d be a stretch to say that there were four or more surrounding either.
Tsougria and Tsougriaki, two islets off the coast of Skiathos. Image: kdask / CC BY 2.0
For these reasons, I decided to look elsewhere. I found a directory of Greek islands that provided areas not only for the country’s major islands, but also many of the smaller islets surrounding them. In his book, Stephen Maltz gives the intriguingly precise figure of 112 acres for the main island in a way that suggests it could be accurate. This is equivalent to 0.453 square metres, and the directory listed Stapodia – the islet near Mykonos, also known as Chtapodia – with an area of 0.452 square metres.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Mykonos was a favoured destination for the rich and famous, and some artists and musicians bought property there – so it seemed plausible that the Beatles might want to as well. On a map, it also looked like there were four or five smaller islands next to Stapodia. But when I got there, I realised how vastly different the rocky, remote islet was to the paradisal descriptions of the place the Beatles had wanted. It seemed unlikely there were olive groves anywhere on its windswept surface, let alone 300 square metres of arable land. If Stapodia really was the island I was looking for, then a whole new set of questions needed answering. I never visited it, and I put my search for the island the Beatles had wanted to one side.
Update: Read about where I think the island the Beatles wanted actually is.