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.
AN OLD ENGLISH cottage packed full of history and valuables has been left to rot .
An adorable orangutan named Pongo celebrates his first birthday at Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, America .
These images of vintage cars, bikes and vans, pictured all over the world, could easily have come from a globetrotting petrol-head’s photo album .
LOCATIONS bursting with vibrant greens and chestnut browns, these photographs capture the peaceful English countryside in all its glory .
A NINJA red squirrel cuts a dashing figure as the little fella jumps up to ten-feet between treetops in the Yorkshire Dales .
FISTS fly as two gorillas take each other on in a dramatic battle .
SAT happily on the branch of a tree, this little frog appears unfazed by a surprise visitor .
FOR TWO memory-impaired parents their new-born baby Cian is a living timekeeper .
When Louise Steen walked down the aisle, she imagined a perfect future with her older hubby – but her life would soon become a living hell .
A mum-of-one was left looking like a ‘monster’ after suffering a horrific allergic reaction to hair dye while pregnant .
Raising his arms above his head and lying flat on his back, a polar bear stretches as he sprawls out across the ice .