ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC
Today is the 130th day of 2017 and the 52nd day of spring.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1837, after months of economic downturn, several New York banks refused to convert paper currency to gold or silver, setting off the Panic of 1837.
In 1869, a golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, in ceremonies marking the symbolic completion of the U.S. transcontinental railroad.
In 1940, Winston Churchill was appointed prime minister of Great Britain.
In 2013, the spire of One World Trade Center was completed, making it the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865), actor/assassin; Fred Astaire (1899-1987), singer/dancer/actor; David O. Selznick (1902-1965), film producer; T. Berry Brazelton (1918- ), pediatrician/author; Pat Summerall (1930-2013), football player/broadcaster; Donovan (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Bono (1960- ), singer-songwriter; Linda Evangelista, (1965- ), supermodel; Kenan Thompson (1978- ), actor; Odette Annable (1985- ), actress; Salvador Perez (1990- ), baseball player.
TODAY'S FACT: When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in 1940, King George VI himself summoned Winston Churchill to Buckingham Palace and asked him to form a government.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1970, Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins scored the game-winning goal in sudden-death overtime to give Boston the Stanley Cup title over the St. Louis Blues.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "I have no desire to prove anything by it. I have never used it as an outlet or a means of expressing myself. I just dance." -- Fred Astaire, "Steps in Time"
TODAY'S NUMBER: 140,000 -- miles of freight railroad track currently in operation in the United States.
TODAY'S MOON: Full moon (May 10).