Also in February 1903
11th: King Edward VII gives his formal approval to the new flag of Australia. The design, which was chosen from over 32,000 entries to a public competition, incorporates Britain’s Union Jack along with the Southern Cross constellation and the Commonwealth Star – they are set against either a blue or a red background, depending on whether or not the flag is flown in an official capacity.
13th: The UK, Germany and Italy agree to end their collaborative two month-long naval blockade of Venezuela, an action taken against the South American nation in response to the failure of its president Cipriano Castro to pay off foreign debts. When, however, the US threatens to intervene by sending a large fleet from Puerto Rico, the three countries back down. c15th: Brooklyn toymakers Morris and
Rose Mitchom create and display the first ever teddy bear. Its name is inspired by US president Theodore Roosevelt who, on a hunting trip in Mississippi in November, refused to shoot a black bear.
22nd: Hugo Wolf dies of syphilis at the age of 42. After making his final concert appearance in 1897, the Austrian composer slipped away from public life as the effects of his disease worsened and was placed in an asylum at his own request. At his death, he leaves his opera Manuel Venegas unfinished. 23rd: At a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, composer George Enescu conducts the premiere of his two Romanian Rhapsodies and his First Suite for Orchestra, Op. 9. The Rhapsodies, which incorporate elements of lautareasca (gypsy) music, will go on to become Enescu’s most regularly performed works. Despite their numbering, he conducts No. 2 before No. 1 on this and several further occasions.