ON THIS day

1757

British admiral John Byng is executed by a firing squad in Portsmouth for not relieving the island of Minorca, threatened by the French fleet.

1794

American inventor Eli Whitney receives a patent for the cotton gin. 1836

Naturalist Charles Darwin (above) farewells Australia “without sorrow or regret”, sailing on the Beagle for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

1863

Baronet and police commander Frederick Pottinger burns down the house of Ben Hall. The robbery suspect will react by setting up a bushranger gang.

1883

German philosopher Karl Marx, 64, dies in London.

1885

Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado premieres at the Savoy Theatre, London.

1923

The first issue of the American weekly news magazine Time was published.

1932

Kodak’s George Eastman, who developed the instant camera, commits suicide.

1942

Wartime federal labour minister Eddie Ward announces that all Australian civilians will have to carry identity cards.

1964

Jack Ruby is found guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, US president John F. Kennedy’s assassin.

1979

Chiko roll inventor Frank McEncroe, 70, dies. He developed it in 1950 after seeing rolls made from Chinese chop suey being sold outside a football ground. 1988

The Sun, one of two Sydney afternoon newspapers, appears for the last time as its publisher Fairfax says circulation has slumped. 2009

Crime boss Abdul Darwiche, 37, is shot dead in daylight at a Bass Hill petrol station.

2018

English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, known for the book A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988), dies at age 76.