She was the 18th century celebrity who made men faint in awe of her beauty by her very presence. But her beauty - and her vanity - led to her demise as the lead-based make-up she insisted on plastering on daily resulted first in the loss of her looks, then deadly blood poisoning. Now the grand 7ft mirror in which Maria Gunning, the former Countess of Coventry, admired her stunning reflection has been auctioned off for more than £300,000. Labelled the first victim of vanity, Maria died aged 27 in 1760 after her love of make-up resulted in her untimely death. The 253-year-old mirror sold well above its estimate even though her condition meant she the society hostess used it for a matter of just months. A glorious George II giltwood overmantel design, it was bought for her by her husband The Sixth Earl of Coventry in 1759, who is said to have been so frustrated by his wife's love of make up that he would chase her around the dinner table with a handkerchief, trying wipe it from her face.
TWIN SISTERS from Australia have taken their sisterly bond to the extreme by spending £150,000 to look IDENTICAL .
WOMB STROKE SURVIVOR AMAZES DOCS BY TAKING FIRST STEPS - A little girl who suffered a catastrophic stroke in the womb which would have killed an adult has stunned the medical world by learning to walk, talk and see .
AT 4,800 metres high and just three metres wide, this is the most dangerous road in the world .
SNOWBOARDING in your £2,000 wedding dress sounds like a nightmare for most brides .
A DARING duo take their chances and scale this spectacular 82ft frozen waterfall before it collapses .
BURSTING from the water, a beautiful but deadly Sumatran tiger jumps for food in an Indonesian zoo .
A diabetic who was addicted to energy drinks has lost 8st after doctors warned her habit was blinding her .
A man who developed anorexia as a teen has told that dying for 20 minutes helped shock him into recovery .
Playing, splashing and generally messing around, these polar bears show they certainly have a soft spot for the water, and not just each other .
Meet the dog-loving woman who spends £20k a year looking after her 30 pet PUGS .
HUNDREDS of hot air balloons decorate the sky above Turkey as the rising sun illuminates the spectacular scenery below .
Ornate chandeliers and mahogany panelling give a glimpse into this abandoned building's former glory after it's been left to rot for the past decade .