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.
THIS may look like a dolphin through jumping hoops, but it is in fact nothing more than a clever 3D pencil drawing .
Say cheese! This cheeky chappy isn’t in the mood to live up to his scary reputation as he is pictured here cracking a killer smile as he goes about his daily business .
FLEXING his muscles and staring straight at his opponent, this bodybuilding squirrel is the nuts .
THIS BIGFOOT 'Jesus bird' may look silly, but he's perfectly designed for walking on water .
A northern potoo shows it is a master of disguise as it perches on a tree stump and blends into the bark .
AN ANOREXIC dental nurse whose weight plummeted to less than four stone has won her NHS fight for more treatment .
A couple celebrated tying the knot with a spectacular Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding reception .
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 .
Southern England, the south-west and west Wales have been warned to expect more wild weather, with heavy rain and high tides possibly leading to coastal flooding and travel disruption over the weekend .
FOR most restaurateurs, the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ is gospel .
SURROUNDED by tens of thousands of fish, this outnumbered diver is dwarfed by a mass of sea life .