ON THIS day

1819

British East India Company administrator Stamford Raffles establishes the port of Singapore in a treaty with a local ruler to set up a British trading post.

1856

The Victoria Cross, Britain’s top military award, is introduced by Queen Victoria.

1860

Russian author Anton Chekhov, who was known for his plays and short stories, which often lacked complex plots and neat solutions, is born.

1880

American actor and comedian W.C. Fields is born in Philadelphia. 1886

The first petrol-driven car to work usefully is patented by the German engineer and inventor Karl Benz. 1924

The first machine for rolling ice cream cones is patented by Carl Rutherford Taylor of Cleveland. 1934

Miners riot against Yugoslavs and Italians in Kalgoorlie and Boulder, Western Australia. One killing causes the trouble and another results.

1957

Joern Utzon wins £5000 first prize in a contest to design an opera house for Bennelong Point, Sydney.

1958

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward marry.

1964

The RAAF receives its first two Frenchdesigned Mirage supersonic jet fighters.

2002

In his first State of the Union address, president Bush warns of “an axis of evil” consisting of North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

2008

International Cricket Council appeals commissioner John Hansen overturns the three-Test suspension for Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh for calling Australia’s Andrew Symonds a monkey, imposing a fine instead.

2015

Australian novelist Colleen McCullough (above), best known for her sweeping romance The Thorn Birds (1977) and for the Masters of Rome series (1990–2007), dies at age 77.