Today is the seventh day of 2017 and the 18th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a balloon.

In 1927, the first commercial trans-Atlantic telephone call was made between London and New York City.

In 1955, Marian Anderson made her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, becoming the first African-American to perform there.

In 2015, gunmen killed 12 people at the Paris offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), 13th U.S. president; Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), author; Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), composer; Charles Addams (1912-1988), cartoonist; Katie Couric (1957- ), TV news anchor; Rand Paul (1963- ), politician; Nicolas Cage (1964- ), actor; John Ondrasik aka Five for Fighting (1965- ), singer-songwriter; Jeremy Renner (1971- ), actor; John Rich (1974- ), singer-songwriter; Francisco Rodriguez (1982- ), baseball player; Jon Lester (1984- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Millard Fillmore, who assumed the presidency in 1850 upon the death of Zachary Taylor, was the last president from the Whig party. Fillmore sought re-election in 1852, but the Whig party nominated Gen. Winfield Scott instead.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1927, the Harlem Globetrotters (who were actually from Chicago) played their first game in Hinckley, Illinois. The team didn't play a game in Harlem until 1968.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." -- Zora Neale Hurston

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2.5 hours -- length of the first balloon trip across the English Channel, which crossed at the channel's narrowest point (21 miles).

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Jan. 5) and full moon (Jan. 12).

Today is the sixth day of 2017 and the 17th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1838, Samuel F.B. Morse and Alfred Vail publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time.

In 1912, New Mexico was admitted as the 47th U.S. state.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the "Four Freedoms" in his State of the Union address.

In 1973, U.S. daylight saving time was implemented year-round in response to the 1973 oil crisis.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jedediah Smith (1799-1831), explorer/author; Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), poet; Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), poet/novelist; Danny Thomas (1912-1991), actor/comedian; Loretta Young (1913-2000), actress; Lou Holtz (1937- ), football coach/sportscaster; Rowan Atkinson (1955- ), actor/comedian; Nancy Lopez (1957- ), golfer; Howie Long (1960- ), football player/broadcaster; John Singleton (1968- ), filmmaker; Norman Reedus (1969- ), actor; Eddie Redmayne (1982- ), actor; Kate McKinnon (1984- ), actress/comedian; Jameis Winston (1994- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" outlined his principal goals for people "everywhere in the world": freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear.

TODAY's SPORTS: In 1994, U.S. champion figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the knee after a practice session on the orders of skating rival Tonya Harding.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream." -- Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $30,000 -- amount Congress appropriated in 1843 for Samuel F.B. Morse to construct the first experimental telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Jan. 5) and full moon (Jan. 12).

Today is the fifth day of 2017 and the 16th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1781, British naval forces led by Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold captured and burned Richmond, Virginia.

In 1914, Ford Motor Co. raised basic wages from $2.40 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour day.

In 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay.

In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that the U.S. would intervene militarily and economically at the request of other nations in response to the spread of communism.

In 2005, the dwarf planet Eris was discovered.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: King Camp Gillette (1855-1932), safety razor inventor; George Reeves (1914-1959), actor; Jane Wyman (1917-2007), actress; Walter Mondale (1928- ), former U.S. vice president; Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), dancer/choreographer; Robert Duvall (1931- ), actor; Umberto Eco (1932-2016), author/philosopher; Juan Carlos (1938- ), former king of Spain; Charlie Rose (1942- ), talk show host; Diane Keaton (1946- ), actress; Bradley Cooper (1975- ), actor; January Jones (1978- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The safety razor was one of the first disposable products ever made.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Pete Rose admitted to gambling on baseball games while serving as manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I don't even have an email address. I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages." -- Umberto Eco

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,672 -- performances in the original run of "The Wiz," an adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," at the Majestic Theatre and the Broadway Theatre in New York, after premiering this day in 1975.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Jan. 5).