ON THIS DAY

● 1704: The Battle of Blenheim took place in Germany, inwhich Anglo-Austrian forces under Marlborough and Prince Eugene defeated the French and Bavarian armies.

● 1860: Annie Oakley, marksman who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, was born. She was said to have been able to hit the thin edge ofa playingcard from 30 paces.

● 1888: John Logie Baird, electrical engineer who helped pioneer television, was born in Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire.

● 1899: Alfred Hitchcock, English film director who became a US citizen in 1955, was born. He made the first British sound film– Blackmail (1929).

● 1910: Death of Florence Nightingale, the “Lady With The Lamp” during the Crime an War.

● 1915: “Brides in the Bath” murderer George Joseph Smith, who drowned his brides in a zinc bath after ensuring their finances were set up in his favour, was hanged. Itwas Friday the 13th.

● 1961: East Germanborder guards stopped cars passing to the east through the Brandenburg Gate, thus sealingthe border.

● 1964: Thelast hangings in Britain took place – Peter Allen atWalton Prison, Liverpool, and JohnWalby at Strangeways jail.

● ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: An endangered killerwhale that drew international attention as she carried her dead calf on her head for more than twoweeks, was finallyback to feedingand frolicking with her pod.

● AUGUST 13 BIRTHDAYS: Madhur Jaffrey, actress and cookery writer, 86; Feargal Sharkey, singer andmusic industry executive, 61; James Morrison, singer/songwriter, 35.