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.
Hot on the heels of a little rabbit, this cheetah is on a mission to catch his prey .
A man has spent almost £100K on lip fillers, Botox and designer clothing in a bid to look like Kim Kardashian .
BEHIND the doors of this building, with its stacks of mattresses and discarded remains of wheelchairs, lies another victim of austerity cuts .
A transgender model, who has spent £180k on surgery to become a ‘desirable’ woman, has told of her struggle to find a man who is openly accepting of trans-women .
A BROWN bear wades through waters in Alaska and waits for his lunch .
HOTSPOT MEDIA - BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH AR' KID: A POSTAL SORTER has perfected the art of time travel by delivering images that are from the past .
Kaitlin pictured aged nine - Heart pounding, Kaitlin Womack stared in shock at a Facebook post on her phone .
GETTING behind the camera, this monkey practices his photography skills on his friends .
A woman has revealed how she didn’t know she was pregnant until she saw her baby’s head crowning .
MEET the underwater British seal who is so friendly he loves to grapple divers like a friendly puppy dog .
Peering curiously into a basket hanging off the arms of a snowman, this little squirrel appears fascinated by the snowy figure .