- HotSpot Media

REAL LIFE VICTORIAN

A woman has taken her house back in time - by spending £10,000 to transform it into her Victorian dream home. Quirky spinster Julia Wood, 42, lives her life like a 19th century lady and can often be seen leaving her terraced house wearing ankle length velvet and carrying a parasol. The self confessed "eccentric" has transformed all five rooms of her property in Leicester with late 19th or early 20th century decor. Her lounge, bathroom, bedroom and kitchen are filled with antique furniture, fireplaces and artefacts and even nude portraits complete with lighting from the period. She has a large mahogany mantle piece in her lounge and sips tea from an 1890s crockery set she says she bought for just £10. Her kitchen, which also acts a sitting room, includes an Edwardian day bed, wood burning stove, antique tub chair, pine table and even a black fridge. The author and writer, who has lived in the home for two years, is an avid Oscar Wilde fan and says she lives her life like a character from one of this plays. She said: "I must have a Victorian or Edwardian aura. I was just born in the wrong era. But Downton Abbey has changed things lately. Sales of long gloves have gone up hugely, I understand. All of a sudden I'm in fashion.

AMAZING THUNDERSTORM LIGHTS UP THE SARDINIAN COAST

POWERFUL bolts of lightning illuminate the night sky in an incredible autumn storm over the Sardinian coastline .

PORTRAITS IN PAKISTAN

A photographer from the United Arab Emirates travelled to Pakistan where he captured the lives of local people in a series of expressive portraits .

JOLY THE WOLLY FALLS FOR PARKING PRANK

PRANKSTER Dom Joly was so livid when he was slapped with a parking ticket that he took to Twitter to vent his anger – only to discover he was the victim of his own gag! The comic got a taste of his own medicine when he was tricked by a fellow joker for the first time in a decade .

AMAZING ROBOTIC SCULPTURES

ESCAPING A LANDFILL FUTURE, these amazing science fiction inspired sculptures are made from everyday objects .

TUNNELS OF WAVES

With blue waves tumbling over them, these surfers glide underneath a tunnel of water .

SICK ATTACKER STAMPS ON VICTIM'S HEAD 10 TIMES

CCTV stills of the sickening attack .

FIRST SHOES, FIRST STEPS FOR MENINGITIS TOT

Oday she is a picture of health - a happy, smiling child, enjoying life to the full .

SPRITE LIGHTNING CAPTURED IN AURORA LIGHTS

The aurora lights captured in Blair Nebraska, America - WITH electrifying purple and illuminous green brightening up the night sky, this is the rare moment a flash of 'sprite' lightening was captured on camera .