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.
WITHOUT A care in the world, this little snow monkey puts his feet up and settles in for a snooze .
Made up of 40,000 pieces, putting in over 200 hours of work and blunting endless blades, this is the final result for the world’s largest jigsaw, finally finished on Wednesday .
An adorable young fallow deer peers over its shoulder and is greeted by a cheeky jackdaw crow sitting on its back .
A diving mad couple have finally taken the plunge, having tied the knot 30ft underwater .
FROM the rolling hills of the Scottish highlands to looming chalk cliffs in Sussex, these stunning photographs capture the spectacular beauty of Great Britain .
CLIMBING, falling and tugging on his weary mum, this little orangutan is up to all kinds of trouble .
AN ANOREXIC dental nurse whose weight plummeted to less than four stone has won her NHS fight for more treatment .
A diver attempts to control rising numbers of lionfish by feeding the venomous species to Caribbean reef sharks .
SURROUNDED by a snowstorm, these young polar bears battle the elements - as well as each other .
A woman whose face and body was left scarred for life by angry sores, caused by Lupus, has become a diversity model .
A mum has celebrated each of her four pregnancies with a host of wacky stunts - including acrobatics, aerial contortion, pole-dancing and risque photo shoots .