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
APPY CAMPING: COOKING STOVE CHARGES SMARTPHONES
Here's a APPY solution that should brighten up a wet weekend away camping - a wood powered stove that also recharges your smartphone .
REAL-LIFE LITTLE BO PEEP AGE 20 DEVOTED TO HER 4 PET SHEEP
Meet the real-life Little Bo Peep - a young woman who spends her days tending to her four pet SHEEP .
INDONESIAN TRIBE UNTOUCHED BY MODERN LIFE
An Italian photographer travelled to the highlands of New Guinea where he met an Indonesian tribe untouched by the modern world .
GIRAFFES DUCK FOR COVER
DIPPING and diving their way through this bumpy journey, these giraffe's duck for cover as they dodge multiple cables and wires .
SUNBATHING OTTER
A lazy otter finds the ideal spot to soak up the sun and sleep off his lunch .
MESMERISING FUNGI
With luminous colours and alien- like features, these magical mushrooms look like they belong on another planet .
I LOST 10ST AFTER GIVING UP 1,000 CHOC BAR A YEAR HABIT
A former chocolate addict, who used to gobble more than a THOUSAND bars a year, has shed an astonishing 10st after giving up her favourite treats .
BATHING BEAR CUB
A carefree bear cub reclines in the water with his feet raised in the air .
AERIALS OF FLOODING ON SOMERSET LEVELS
Sam Notaro built his own flood defences to protect his four-bedroom home in Moorland, Somerset Flooding is likely to get worse around Somerset as groundwater levels continue to rise .
POOCHES POSE IN THEIR ELABORATE HEADSCARF COLLECTION
WRAPPED up in classy headscarves, these adorable pooches are the picture of sophistication .
TOY CAR ADVENTURES
These images of vintage cars, bikes and vans, pictured all over the world, could easily have come from a globetrotting petrol-head’s photo album .
