ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 25th day of 2017 and the 36th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1533, King Henry VIII of England secretly married Anne Boleyn.

In 1787, Shays' Rebellion forces failed in an attempt to overtake the U.S. arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In 1915, Alexander Graham Bell made the first transcontinental telephone call from New York to San Francisco.

In 1961, a few days after his inauguration, President John F. Kennedy held the first televised presidential news conference.

In 2004, NASA's Opportunity rover landed on the surface of Mars.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Robert Burns (1759-1796), poet; W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), author/playwright; Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), author/essayist; Etta James (1938-2012), singer-songwriter; Paul Nurse (1949- ), biochemist/Nobel laureate; Steve Prefontaine (1951-1975), runner; Alicia Keys (1981- ), singer-songwriter; Patrick Willis (1985- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The Mars Opportunity rover continues to make scientific observations and report back to Earth in 2016, more than 11 years beyond the duration of activity for which it was designed.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games began in Chamonix, France. The Canadian ice hockey team dominated the games, winning all five of its contests while outscoring the competition 110-3.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too." -- W. Somerset Maugham, "Strictly Personal"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 -- wives of King Henry VIII. He ordered two, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, executed by beheading.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Jan 19) and new moon (Jan. 27).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 24th day of 2017 and the 35th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, setting off the California Gold Rush.

In 1984, the first Apple Macintosh computer went on sale.

In 1995, the O.J. Simpson murder trial began as the prosecution made its opening statement.

In 2003, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn in as the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Pierre de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), playwright; Edith Wharton (1862-1937), author; Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), artist; Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012), actor; Oral Roberts (1918-2009), evangelist; Neil Diamond (1941- ), singer-songwriter; Aaron Neville (1941- ), singer; John Belushi (1949-1982), actor; Nastassja Kinski (1961- ), actress; Mary Lou Retton (1968- ), Olympic gymnast; Ed Helms (1974- ), actor; Mischa Barton (1986- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The first Apple Macintosh computer had a 9-inch monitor and 128 kilobytes of RAM. It was priced at $2,495.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday bought the New York Mets for an estimated $21.1 million, at the time the most ever paid for a baseball franchise.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope." -- Edith Wharton

TODAY'S NUMBER: $81 million -- estimated value (not adjusted for inflation) of the gold extracted from California in 1852, the peak year of the California Gold Rush.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Jan 19) and new moon (Jan. 27).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 23rd day of 2017 and the 34th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1845, Congress passed an act designating that all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from Geneva College in New York, becoming the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States.

In 1922, insulin was injected into a human patient in Toronto and successfully treated diabetes for the first time.

In 2005, Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as president of the Ukraine, only four months after becoming seriously ill as a result of dioxin poisoning.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Hancock (1737-1793), statesman; Stendhal (1783-1842), author; Edouard Manet (1832-1883), artist; Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), director; Ernie Kovacs (1919-1962), comedian; Chita Rivera (1933- ), actress/dancer; Rutger Hauer (1944- ), actor; Princess Caroline of Monaco (1957- ); Mariska Hargitay (1964- ), actress; Tiffani Thiessen (1974- ), actress; Tito Ortiz (1975- ), mixed martial artist.

TODAY'S FACT: Chita Rivera was the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors Award. She has also received two Tony Awards for her work in musical theater.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1944, the Detroit Red Wings set a record for the most one-sided hockey game by beating the New York Rangers 15-0.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In love, unlike most other passions, the recollection of what you have had and lost is always better than what you can hope for in the future." – Stendahl, "On Love"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 10 -- performing acts making up the charter class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on this day in 1986. The inductees were Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Jan 19) and new moon (Jan. 27).