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 group of whale sharks gather to feed underneath a fisherman’s boat off the coast of Papua, Indonesia .
CAUSING a splash, this determined kingfisher goes hunting for dinner .
THIS is the moment one irritated pelican nearly swallows the entire head of his unlucky competitor .
A care worker who broke her spine after jumping from a window to escape a sex attack at the hands of a resident has called for tougher safety measures to protect care staff .
The gunslingers are long gone and tumbleweeds have taken over at this abandoned American Wild West Theme Park in Cornwall .
A woman left disfigured and traumatised by an addiction to lip filler injections has issued a warning to others searching for the perfect pout after the plastic chemicals nearly killed her .
BREATHING life back into old photographs, these black and white images are transformed by colour .
DIPPING his head into the vase of water, this little squirrel takes a refreshing break from an afternoon of eating .
A teenage girl has grown back her entire face after being struck down by a rare skin disease .
SLEEPING within touching distance of wild African animals might not be everyone's idea of a relaxing break .
A grand 56-bedroom hotel, once heaving with injured soldiers during the First World War, now lies completely abandoned .
Heart pounding, Rebecca Cain jumped as a car door slammed on the street outside .