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.
BALANCING on top of a tree, this bear cub puts her climbing skills to the test.
THESE kaleidoscopic-like photographs capture England’s churches and cathedrals in all their glory.
A diver looks like a minnow as she swims alongside a gigantic whale shark, the largest species of fish on the planet.
A woman who has suffered over 200 allergic reactions in seven years, has been crowned a BEAUTY QUEEN.
A university graduate who was obsessed with achieving a thigh gap has told how she shrunk to just 6st after developing anorexia athletica.
A LUXURY baby cot has hit the shelves with a price tag just shy of 10 MILLION POUNDS.
A hypnotherapist filmed himself sexually abusing a 19-year-old patient while she was in a trance-like state.
A KITTEN'S teaparty and rat's playing dominoes are the bizarre creations by one of Britain's great eccentrics pictured in an incredible new book.
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 Canadian woman who is obsessed with all things mythical has had her ears cut and shaped to look like an ELF.
SITTING in the middle of a vast desert, an abandoned cinema is still waiting for its first movie to be screened.
A GLOWING range of greens and blues sweep across the sky in a spectacular display of light.