John Lennon: An unpublished film of John and Yoko in Athens,

1969,

Footnotes

In November 1969, John and Yoko visited Athens, accompanied by Alexis ('Magic Alex') Mardas and his wife, Eufrosyne. This film, never before seen or broadcast, was shot by Nico Mastorakis on a Bolex camera. Mastorakis had first met the Beatles when they visited Greece in 1967, later spent time with them in London and befriended John and Yoko. When the couple came to Athens, Mastorakis invited them onto a talk show he was producing/directing for the Armed Forces Television, although the pair were hostile to the military regime which had come to power in 1967. The interview was aired live and no record of it exists. Mastorakis then arranged a press conference and the the film he took shows them in the King George Hotel, giving interviews and signing autographs, then sightseeing around Athens. John is seen playing with a videocamera, which he had just acquired.

The vendor recalls that later in the day they visited an astrologer/psychic and were given the prediction that John would be 'shot on an island'. They were due to join Donovan on his yacht, Vagrant, the next day but were unnerved by the prediction (thinking it referred to a Greek island) and returned home instead. During an interview with Nico Mastorakis in 2000, Yoko Ono was reminded of this incident, a film of which is available on Youtube.

Sold wth the lot is a statement giving the background to the film and confirming the provenance.