ON THIS DAY

1778: La Scala Opera House in Milan, the work of Giuseppe Piermarini, is opened.

1852: First steamship arrives in Sydney, the SS Chusan, after an 80-day journey from England.

1891: Australia’s second-biggest bank at the time, the Bank of Van Diemen’s Land closes after incurring a debt of one million pounds.

1904: British troops enter Lhasa, Tibet, as the Dalai Lama flees.

1945: All ethnic Germans and Hungarians in Czechoslovakia are stripped of their citizenship.

1966: Death of Lenny Bruce, US comedian, from a drugs overdose.

2005: French authorities find 351 foetuses and stillborn babies stored in bags and jars at a Paris hospital.

Tony Bennett, US singer (1926-); Martin Sheen, US actor (1940-); Sonny Bill Williams, NZ rugby league footballer (1985-).