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 mother-of-four has revealed how her daughter tragically took her own life after being subjected to horrific abuse at the hands of her ex-partner .
A woman has celebrated the end of her marriage to her unfaithful husband by throwing herself a DIVORCE PARTY .
FROM COLOURFUL autumn leaves to living trees at first glance you might miss these people blended with nature .
A proud stag attempts to impress the females by donning an enormous fern headdress in London's Bushy Park .
This longhorn beetle demon-strates a dark side as it looks just like the devil .
A family who were refused the location of their missing cat under the Data Protection Act have been reunited with their moggie after the keepers handed him back .
SOME OF the sea’s most terrifying creatures show their softer side as they join a group of diners for lunch .
SWIMMING next to 40 tonne whales, dare-devil divers take the plunge with these gentle giants of the sea .
CREATED over 60 years ago, this weighty machine was the Photoshop of its time .
Fishermen in Myanmar have perfected an unusual fishing technique by carefully balancing on one leg .
A carefree bear cub reclines in the water with his feet raised in the air .