A look back at events in history on August 13 with Mike Badham

1521: Spanish conquistador Cortes took Mexico City and overthrew the Aztec Empire.

1860: Little Annie Oakley was born in Ohio. She earned stardom with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, once shooting 4,772 out of a possible 5,000 flying glass balls. She could hit a playing card sideways on at 30 paces and once shot a cigarette out of the Kaiser's mouth.

1889: Hardly had Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone (in 1876) than William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut patented a coin-operated phone. And on this day in 1960, the first satellite phone conversation took place.

1899: Film director Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, was born to a London greengrocer. He went to the US and became a Hollywood legend. He said: "The length of a film should be related to the endurance of the human bladder." 1915: On Friday 13, in a skirmish near Armentieres, Private Smith of the 6th Buffs aimed at a German sniper's nest. The German fired first and his bullet went down the barrel of Smith's rifle, smashing the bolt. Smith was unhurt.

1923: Kemal Ataturk was named first president of Turkey.

1930: Two Americans, inspired by a similar Rolls-Royce exploit, arrived in Los Angeles after having driven from New York backwards. Three weeks later they returned the same way.

1940: "Eagle Day". The Germans began mass daylight bombing raids in advance of their planned invasion. Thus began the Battle of Britain. On Sept 17, the attacks ceased in the face of huge losses. 1961: The Berlin Wall was closed, dividing East Berlin from West Berlin.

1964: The last hangings in Britain took place as two killers, Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen, were hanged in Liverpool and Manchester. The last public hanging was in 1868.

1969: Japanese political protester Osami Kamaga poured petrol over himself and struck a match. But the can had contained detergent. Kamaga then tried to shoot himself, but the gun jammed. Then he stole some dynamite to blow himself up. The sticks turned out to be marine smoke signals and Kamaga vanished in a cloud of smoke. Then a truck came along and ran him over. Verdict: suicide.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.