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.
COURAGEOUS CLIMBERS scale frozen waterfalls in Canada, as the ice threatens to collapse beneath them .
A cheeky gorilla sticks her tongue out and plays up for the camera at Bronx Zoo .
This longhorn beetle demon-strates a dark side as it looks just like the devil .
DIPPING his head into the vase of water, this little squirrel takes a refreshing break from an afternoon of eating .
FLYING through the air, these delighted pooches pull their best poses mid-flight .
A frilled lizard appears to be belting out a tune as it sits in a tree with its mouth open wide .
Fetching a tiny carrot and a head-shaped snowball, a red squirrel builds the perfect snowman .
football club has scored an own goal after it had to embarrassingly rename its stadium in honour of the DEVIL .
A survivor of abuse has bravely waived her anonymity to tell how she was sexually assaulted from the age of nine - by her depraved grandad .
DIPPING and diving their way through this bumpy journey, these giraffe's duck for cover as they dodge multiple cables and wires .
STEPFORD wives from the 1950's and 60's are performing history's most sexist exercise programme .