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.
A weightlifter has lost a whopping 12st after swapping biscuits for biceps .
A mother-of-one has revealed how a neighbour’s friend ‘mauled’ her face, leaving her scarred for life .
HEART-MELTING shots of a French bulldog and a ten-month-old French baby could be the cutest you’re likely to see .
THESE kingfishers prove no rod is needed as they go fishing for their dinner .
Sprawled out on top of a log, this sleeping leopard takes a relaxing break from his daily routine .
A LUXURY baby cot has hit the shelves with a price tag just shy of 10 MILLION POUNDS .
Housands of cushions handmade as gifts for Olympics athletes may go to waste after London 2012 KNITWITS stitched up volunteers by refusing to allow them to hand them out .
Sitting all alone on drift ice in the Arctic Ocean, this lonely little fella looks lost .
WELCOME to the real Frankenstein's lab where carefully pickled creatures are left to stew in jars .
This longhorn beetle demon-strates a dark side as it looks just like the devil .
Struggling home entertainment chain Blockbuster has been slammed for advertising its workers' jobs while they are still in them in order to scare them into working harder .
Two people have been arrested after a man and woman were shot dead at a house in the Midlands in the early hours of this morning .