Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is Aug. 13. Early in the morning on this date in 1961, the East German government closed the Brandenburg Gate between the east and west sectors of Berlin and strung barbed wire to prevent further population movement to the West. Telephone and postal service were interrupted. Later in the week, construction began on a concrete wall that would become known as the Berlin Wall. Advertisement It stood defiantly dividing the city for nearly 30 years until democracy swept Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Dismantling of the wall began on Nov. 9, 1989. On this date in 1980, President Carter was nominated for a second term by the Democratic National Convention in New York and again picked Vice President Mondale as his running mate. They lost in November to the Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield was left paralyzed when he was hit by a wind-blown lighting rig on an outdoor stage in Brooklyn, N.Y., on this date in 1990. Mayfield never fully recovered from this crippling injury and died at his home in suburban Atlanta on Dec. 26, 1999. Advertisement Capt. Frank Hawkes set what was then an air speed record on this date in 1930 by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 12 hours, 25 minutes. When you factor in commuting time to and from the airports, waiting to board the plane, and getting stuck in a holding pattern, that's about how long it takes to get from the East Coast to the West Coast today... On this date in 1869, William Gray patented the first coin-operated telephone. One of Hollywood's most influential forces was born on this date in 1899 in London. Director Alfred Hitchcock, the innovative master of the macabre, came to this country in 1939 and turned out an array of movie hits, usually placing ordinary people in tense or nightmarish situations. Among his nearly 60 films were "Rebecca," "Vertigo," "Rear Window," "Psycho" and "North by Northwest." He died in 1980 shortly after being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
