John Michell, who has died aged 76, was an old Etonian who became the standard bearer for the romantic hippy mysticism with his 1969 book The View Over Atlantis, This posited the then original theory of a prehistorical global civilisation linked by leylines, and became extraordinarily popular and influential.

A hugely productive renaissance man, Michell published countless books and articles examining varied topics such as the debate over Shakespeare, the history of Glastonbury, the Jerusalem temple, the science of measuring the earth, sacred England and much, much more, as well as beautiful, mystically influenced geometric art, while eking out a bohemian existence in London’s once countercultural epicentre, Notting Hill.