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.
Armed with a snorkel, flippers and her skimpy bikini, an intrepid female free diver swims alongside an array of reef sharks .
SURROUNDED by tens of thousands of fish, this outnumbered diver is dwarfed by a mass of sea life .
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 .
Families in an Indian slum put their lives on the line by living on top of an ACTIVE railway track .
FLEXING his muscles and staring straight at his opponent, this bodybuilding squirrel is the nuts .
A group of shelter dogs showcase their loveable personalities in a series of passport-style photographs - in the hope of finding their forever homes .
BEHIND the doors of this building, with its stacks of mattresses and discarded remains of wheelchairs, lies another victim of austerity cuts .
Swimming side by side with divers, these manatees will do anything they can to stay warm .
A nine year old girl nearly lost her leg after doctors initially misdiagnosed her bone cancer as a pulled muscle .
A 23st woman who was left humiliated after breaking a TOILET SEAT has lost an incredible 11st .
Pouncing down on top of his twin brother, these two snow leopard cubs practice their kung-fu moves .
WOMB STROKE SURVIVOR AMAZES DOCS BY TAKING FIRST STEPS - A little girl who suffered a catastrophic stroke in the womb which would have killed an adult has stunned the medical world by learning to walk, talk and see .