Legendary actor Richard Burton's secret diaries paint a more intimate, gentle and thoughtful picture of his love for Elizabeth Taylor - their life together and their two stormy marriages.
The diaries cover his life from the age of 14 until just before his death in 1984 at the age of 58.
He describes Taylor as a "wildly exciting lover-mistress" who was "beautiful beyond the dreams of pornography."
The 450,000 handwritten words are recorded in pocket books, desk diaries and on loose paper, the Daily Express reported.
Burton met Taylor on the set of the film Cleopatra in 1963. The attraction was instantaneous and they launched into a whirlwind romance, marrying a year later. They divorced in 1974 but wed again just a year later. That marriage only lasted a year.
Entries from November 1968 read: "I have been inordinately lucky all my life but the greatest luck of all has been Elizabeth.
Even after the pair's second divorce, the passion lived on. Burton compared marriage to Taylor with living on the edge of a volcano.
It is said that one of Burton's last acts was to write to Taylor, who died last year aged 79. The contents have never been revealed but she hinted he sought a reconciliation.
{{/usCountry}}It is said that one of Burton's last acts was to write to Taylor, who died last year aged 79. The contents have never been revealed but she hinted he sought a reconciliation.
{{/usCountry}}The diaries, given to Swansea University by Burton's last wife Sally, are to published later this year.