Johnny Cash penned quite possibly the greatest love letter of all time
LIVIA GAMBLE
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ROMANTIC ODE: Johnny Cash's letter to "the greatest woman I ever met" was voted the greatest love letter of all time.
Johnny Cash wrote a love letter for his wife June Carter Cash that puts even Richard Mercer's Love Song Dedications to shame.
Cash's letter to "the greatest woman I ever met" was also voted the greatest love letter of all time, according to a new poll.
Written in 1994 for Carter Cash's 65th birthday, Cash wrote:
DEVOTED COUPLE: Johnny Cash and his wife June wave to fans at the end of a tribute in his honour in 1999.
"Happy Birthday, Princess,
We get old and get used to each other. We think alike.
We read each other's minds. We know what the other wants without asking. Sometimes we irritate each other a little bit. Maybe sometimes take each other for granted.
But once in a while, like today, I meditate on it and realise how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met. You still fascinate and inspire me.
You influence me for the better. You're the object of my desire, the No. 1 earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much.
Happy Birthday, Princess.
John"
Carter Cash met Cash after her family had performed with him for a number of years. In 1968, Cash proposed to Carter Cash during a live performance in Canada. They wed in March and were together until Carter Cash's death in 2003. Cash died four months after his wife.
In second place was Winston Churchill's letter to his wife, Clementine Churchill, which he wrote in 1935.
In seventh place King Henry VIII expresses his love for Anne Boleyn, which may have been romantic if he hadn't later executed her.
Lastly, in 10th place, it was Jimi Hendrix's letter to a mystery girlfriend telling her to spread her wings.
The poll, according to the Daily Mail, was by British life insurance company Beagle Street, hoping to encourage Brits to be more romantic this Valentines Day.
The results revealed that 38 per cent of women had never written a love letter, compared to 24 per cent of men admitting to sending one in the last year.
TOP 10 GREATEST LOVE LETTERS
Johnny Cash wishing his wife June Carter Cash a happy 65th birthday (1994).
"We get old and get used to each other. We think alike. We read each other's minds. We know what the other wants without asking. Sometimes we irritate each other a little bit. Maybe sometimes take each other for granted. But once in a while, like today, I meditate on it and realise how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met."
Winston Churchill wrote to his wife Clementine Churchill in 1935.
"In your letter from Madras you wrote some words very dear to me, about my having enriched your life. I cannot tell you what pleasure this gave me, because I always feel so overwhelmingly in your debt, if there can be accounts in love .... What it has been to me to live all these years in your heart and companionship no phrases can convey."
Poet John Keats wrote a letter to his neighbour Fanny Brawne in 1819.
"My love has made me selfish. I cannot exist without you - I am forgetful of every thing but seeing you again - my Life seems to stop there - I see no further. You have absorb'd me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I was dissolving - I should be exquisitely miserable without the hope of soon seeing you. I should be afraid to separate myself far from you."
Ernest Hemingway to actress Marlene Dietrich in 1951.
"I can't say how every time I ever put my arms around you I felt that I was home. Nor too many things. But we were always cheerful and jokers together."
Napoleon Bonaparte wrote to Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796.
"Since I left you, I have been constantly depressed. My happiness is to be near you. Incessantly I live over in my memory your caresses, your tears, your affectionate solicitude. The charms of the incomparable Josephine kindle continually a burning and a glowing flame in my heart."
Richard Burton's letter to Elizabeth Taylor in 1964.
"My blind eyes are desperately waiting for the sight of you. You don't realise of course, EB, how fascinatingly beautiful you have always been, and how strangely you have acquired an added and special and dangerous loveliness."
King Henry VIII's letter to Anne Boleyn in 1527.
"I beg to know expressly your intention touching the love between us. Necessity compels me to obtain this answer, having been more than a year wounded by the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail or find a place in your affection."
Beethoven's letter to his "Beloved" in 1812.
"Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, Be calm-love me-today-yesterday-what tearful longings for you-you-you-my life-my all-farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours."
US President Gerald Ford's letter to his wife Betty Ford in 1974.
"No written words can adequately express our deep, deep love. We know how great you are and we, the children and dad, will try to be as strong as you. Our Faith in you and God will sustain us. Our total love for you is everlasting."
Musician Jimi Hendrix's letter to a mystery women he calls "little girl".
"little girl ... happiness is within you ... so unlock the chains from your heart and let yourself grow —
like the sweet flower you are ... I know the answer –
Just spread your wings and set yourself
FREE
Love to you forever
Jimi Hendrix"
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