Beatles’ guru Maharishi drops out, aged (approx) 91

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who sought to turn the Beatles off drugs and on to universal peace, love and transcendental meditation, has died at his Netherlands home. The Maharishi made headlines in 1967, the summer of Flower Power, when the Fab Four, along with their wives and girlfriends, plus Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful and Jane Asher, followed him to Bangor in Wales. Sitting at his feet, the Beatles declared that they had decided to abandon LSD, saying: "We think we're finding new ways of getting there".

The following year the group spent time with him at his Himalayan retreat. There, however, they had an infamous falling out after rumours emerged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances on the Beatles' friend, the actress Mia Farrow. John Lennon was so angry that he wrote the bitter satire, Sexy Sadie, declaring that the Maharishi had "made a fool of everyone". The Maharishi, meanwhile, objected to finding the Beatles smoking cannabis and taking LSD at his home.

The Maharishi had begun teaching transcendental meditation in 1955 and had taken the technique to the United States in 1959. Long before his death, his movement had grown into a multi-million dollar empire with a following of about six million people worldwide, including celebrities like the Beach Boys, Clint Eastwood and avant-garde filmmaker David Lynch.

His spokesman, Bob Roth, said his death was due to "natural causes - his age". The Maharishi was believed to be around 91 but various dates (1911, 1917 and 1918) have been given for his birth, in the Indian province of Madhya Pradesh. He died at his home, an enormous mansion in the southern Dutch town of Vlodrop. The house has 200 rooms but the Maharishi, concerned about his fragile health, secluded himself in just two of them, speaking to his advisors only by video link.