Today is the 20th day of 2015 and the 31st day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1841, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British.

In 1885, LaMarcus Thompson patented the first roller coaster.

In 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union was founded.

In 1981, the Iran hostage crisis ended as 52 American captives were released in Tehran, just after President Jimmy Carter left office.

In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African-American president.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Burns (1896-1996), actor/comedian; Federico Fellini (1920-1993), director; DeForest Kelley (1920-1999), actor; Slim Whitman (1923-2013), singer-songwriter; Patricia Neal (1926-2010), actress; Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930- ), astronaut; David Lynch (1946- ), director; Paul Stanley (1952- ), singer-songwriter; Bill Maher (1956- ), comedian/TV host; Rainn Wilson (1966- ), actor; Questlove (1971- ), musician.

TODAY'S FACT: Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time on this day in 1986.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1892, the first official basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts. The two nine-man teams used a soccer ball and peach baskets.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old." -- George Burns

TODAY'S NUMBER: 444 -- days the hostages were held in the U.S. embassy in Iran.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (Jan. 20).

Today is the 19th day of 2015 and the 30th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1915, two German zeppelins dropped bombs on the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in England.

In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected as India's first woman prime minister.

In 1977, snow fell in Miami for the only time in recorded history.

In 2006, NASA launched the New Horizons space probe to study the dwarf planet Pluto.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), Confederate general; Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), author/poet; Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), artist; Jean Stapleton (1923-2013), actress; Tippi Hedren (1930- ), actress; Janis Joplin (1943-1970), singer-songwriter; Dolly Parton (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Paula Deen (1947- ), chef/author; Robert Palmer (1949-2003), singer-songwriter; Katey Sagal (1954- ), actress; Thomas Kinkade (1958-2012), painter; Junior Seau (1969-2012), football player; Drea de Matteo (1972- ), actress; Frank Caliendo (1974- ), comedian; Logan Lerman (1992- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Robert E. Lee's U.S. citizenship was posthumously reinstated by an act of Congress in 1975.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, President Jimmy Carter proposed during a televised interview that the Olympic Games should be moved from Moscow unless Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan within a month.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." -- Edgar Allan Poe

TODAY'S NUMBER: 71.7 -- percentage of U.S. households that tuned in to watch "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," the episode of "I Love Lucy" in which the titular character gave birth. Star Lucille Ball actually gave birth to her son, Desi Arnaz Jr., on the same day the episode aired, on this day in 1953.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Jan. 13) and new moon (Jan. 20).

Today is the 18th day of 2015 and the 29th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1788, English settlers landed in Australia to establish a penal colony.

In 1943, the first armed uprising began at the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland.

In 1944, Soviet forces liberated Leningrad, ending a three-year Nazi siege.

In 1964, planners unveiled the designs for New York's World Trade Center.

In 1993, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), political philosopher; Daniel Webster (1782-1852), statesman/orator; A.A. Milne (1882-1956), children's author; Cary Grant (1904-1986), actor; Danny Kaye (1913-1987), entertainer; Kevin Costner (1955- ), actor; Mark Messier (1961- ), hockey player; Dave Attell (1965- ), actor/comedian; Dave Bautista (1969- ), wrestler/actor; Jason Segel (1980- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The United Nations designated 11 convict sites in Australia -- used as prisons by the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries -- as World Heritage Sites in 2010.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1976, wide receiver Lynn Swann gained 161 yards on four receptions and was named MVP as Pittsburgh defeated Dallas 21-17 in Super Bowl X.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption." -- Baron de Montesquieu, "De l'Esprit des Lois" ("The Spirit of the Laws")

TODAY'S NUMBER: 139,797 -- square miles of Pacific Ocean encompassed by the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, designated by President Bush in June 2006.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Jan. 13) and new moon (Jan. 20).