Today's the Day - 13th August

Annie Oakley in 1922

• 155 years ago: American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter, Annie Oakley was born. The star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, she became one of the first American female superstars. Born Phoebe Ann Mosey, she adopted the name of Oakley when performing with her husband Frank Butler as they resided in the Cincinnati suburb of Oakley. She died in 1926, at the age of 66, from Pernicious Anemia

• 80 years ago: On this day, Rod Hull, famous for his antics with Emu, a somewhat aggressive arm-length glove puppet, was born. Initially famous for Children’s TV in Australia where he moved to in 1961, he returned to the UK in 1971 after supposedly finding Emu in a cupboard. He died aged 63 in 1999 after accidentally falling from the roof of his house after climbing up to adjust a TV aerial.

• 20 years ago: British mountaineer, Alison Hargreaves died on this day, aged 33 in 1995. The first woman to climb Mount Everest solo without the aid of supplementary oxygen, she was killed in a storm while descending K2, losing her life along with American, Spanish and New Zealand colleagues.