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 young mum has told how a phantom pregnancy almost destroyed her dream of having a second child .
A mum-of-two has worn the same t-shirt for an entire year to raise awareness of a 1 in 7 million condition that prevents her daughter from talking .
A GIRL nicknamed JAWS by bullies who taunted her because of her underbite is em-bracing her new post-surgery life .
TUGGING on the wing of his sibling, this needy owl is after some attention .
A fox takes a tumble and lands on his head when he tries to fend off a pair of eagles in Japan .
A couple celebrated tying the knot with a spectacular Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding reception .
A British jewellery designer with a passion for London's iconic Gherkin has created a pen with an INK-REDIBLE price tag of £27,500 .
PRANKSTER Dom Joly was so livid when he was slapped with a parking ticket that he took to Twitter to vent his anger – only to discover he was the victim of his own gag! The comic got a taste of his own medicine when he was tricked by a fellow joker for the first time in a decade .
A young girl has been forced to stay indoors this winter because a rare allergy to the cold could kill her .
ALL IS not as it seems in these deceptive cityscapes .
A woman brutally beaten in a revenge attack has slammed the soft sentence handed to her assailant .
A teenage girl has grown back her entire face after being struck down by a rare skin disease .