Today is the 132nd day of 2015 and the 54th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1780, British forces took Charleston, South Carolina, during the Revolutionary War.

In 1937, King George VI of the United Kingdom and Elizabeth, the future queen mother, were crowned at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

In 1949, the Soviet Union lifted its blockade of Berlin.

In 2002, Jimmy Carter became the first former or sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro.

In 2008, a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck in Sichuan province, China, leaving more than 69,000 people dead, 18,000 missing and 4.8 million homeless.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Edward Lear (1812-1888), painter/poet; Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), nurse; Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003), actress; Yogi Berra (1925- ), baseball player/manager; Burt Bacharach (1928- ), composer; George Carlin (1937-2008), comedian; Gabriel Byrne (1950- ), actor; Ving Rhames (1959- ), actor; Tony Hawk (1968- ), skateboarder; Catherine Tate (1968- ), actress; Malin Akerman (1978- ), actress; Jason Biggs (1978- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, in 1860, but was readmitted in 1868.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2008, Cleveland Indians second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera turned the 14th unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball history.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "A hundred struggle and drown in the breakers. One discovers the new world. But rather, ten times rather, die in the surf, heralding the way to that new world, than stand idly on the shore!" -- Florence Nightingale

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4 -- American presidents who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama).

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (May 11) and new moon (May 17).

Today is the 131st day of 2015 and the 53rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1858, Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.

In 1894, the Pullman Strike began, involving more than 3,000 Chicago railroad car plant workers.

In 1987, the first heart-lung transplant was performed in Baltimore.

In 1997, the IBM chess-playing computer Deep Blue defeated world champion Garry Kasparov with two wins, one loss and three draws in a six-game match.

In 1998, the first euro coins were minted in France.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Irving Berlin (1888-1989), composer; Margaret Rutherford (1892-1972), actress; Martha Graham (1894-1991), dancer/choreographer; Salvador Dali (1904-1989), painter; Mike Lupica (1952- ), sportswriter; John Clayton (1954- ), sportswriter; Natasha Richardson (1963-2009), actress; Tim Blake Nelson (1964- ), actor; Cory Monteith (1982-2013), actor; Cam Newton (1989- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The euro was originally set to be named the "European currency unit" (ECU, for short). But German-speakers protested that "ecu" sounded too much like "eh Kuh," which means "a cow" in German.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1996, a blizzard on Mount Everest led to the deaths of eight people during summit attempts. Journalist Jon Krakauer of Outside magazine published his first-hand recount of the events in the best-seller "Into Thin Air."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We can what-if ourselves to death ... But what-if never does anybody any good. All any of us ever have ... is one thing, and we better make the most of it while we can: What is." -- Mike Lupica, "Miracle on 49th Street"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 150,000 -- members of the American Railway Union who became involved in the Pullman Strike of 1894 as it spread across the United States.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (May 11).

Today is the 130th day of 2015 and the 52nd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: 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 1994, Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa's first post-apartheid president.

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.

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: "Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's not OK, but you can change it. There's a defiance in rock music that gives you a reason to get out of bed in the morning." -- Bono

TODAY'S NUMBER: 140,000 -- miles of freight railroad track currently in operation in the United States.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (May 3) and last quarter moon (May 11).