KILLED BY MAKE-UP - TRAGIC 18th CENTURY CELEB'S MIRROR AUCTIONED
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.
Other great stories
MUM TOLD GET DOWN GYM FATTY
Sarah Gould, before weight loss Mum told "get down the gym fatty" -A 20 stone woman who was told "get down the gym fatty" on a night out has shed a third of her weight in time for her dream wedding .
NAKED AMBITION: WORLD’S LARGEST SKINNY DIP
Bathers on a New Zealand beach stripped naked and took to the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to shatter the record for the world's largest skinny dip .
AIR-MAZING MCDONALD’S – AEROPLANE TRANSFORMED INTO FAST FOOD RESTAURANT
Diners on this aeroplane are never disappointed with their meal, because the decommissioned aircraft is now home to an air-mazing McDonald’s restaurant .
HUNGRY GORILLA ENJOYS DINNER
SHOVELLING food into his mouth, this hungry gorilla enjoys a peaceful moment at dinner time .
TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A 10 YR OLD: TEENAGE GIRL BORN WITHOUT HORMONES
She is about to start driving and soon will be able to legally buy alcohol and get married, but Poppy Webb-Jones still looks and thinks like a ten-year-old girl .
THE DANGEROUS WORK OF SULPHUR MINERS
These are the men with one of the most unpleasant jobs in the world .
I GAVE UP MY LADETTE LIFESTYLE – AND LOST OVER 6ST
A reformed boozer, who spent nine months partying in Magaluf, has shed over 6 stone after ditching her ladette lifestyle to become a fitness fanatic .
HUNGRY HERON STRUGGLES TO HOLD ONTO ITS CATCH
A DETERMINED great blue heron holds on tightly to its prey as the furry gopher attempts to wriggle free .
WORLD’S MOST BLINGED-OUT CAR
FEAST your eyes on the £500K coin-covered Range Rover that could be the world’s most blinged-out car .
WOMAN REVEALS HOW SHE FELL INTO A BONFIRE AND WAS LEFT SCARRED FOR LIFE
A woman has revealed how she was left scarred for life after accidentally falling into a bonfire at a friend’s BBQ .
