ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 40th day of 2017 and the 51st day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1825, the U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as president, a decision that became necessary after no candidate took the majority of the electoral votes in the election of 1824.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

In 1950, during a speech in West Virginia, Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin claimed to have a list of more than 200 "known communists" serving in the State Department.

In 1964, the Beatles made their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), ninth U.S. president; Ronald Colman (1891-1958), actor; Carmen Miranda (1909-1955), dancer/singer/actress; Brendan Behan (1923-1964), playwright; Roger Mudd (1928- ), TV journalist; Carole King (1942- ), singer-songwriter; Joe Pesci (1943- ), actor; Alice Walker (1944- ), author; Mia Farrow (1945- ), actress; Charlie Day (1976- ), actor; Tom Hiddleston (1981- ), actor; Michael B. Jordan (1987- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The game of volleyball (then called Mintonette) was created in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on this day in 1895.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1971, pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Paige became the first Negro League veteran to be nominated for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed." – William Henry Harrison

TODAY'S NUMBER: 73 million -- viewers estimated to have tuned in to see the Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." At 45.3 percent of all U.S. television-owning households, it became the highest-rated TV telecast and is still the 26th-highest rated of all time.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Feb. 3) and full moon (Feb. 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 39th day of 2017 and the 50th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed on suspicion of plotting to murder her cousin Queen Elizabeth I.

In 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

In 1915, D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" premiered in Los Angeles with the title "The Clansman."

In 1971, the NASDAQ stock exchange began trading.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law, leading to a drastic overhaul of U.S. media regulations.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891), U.S. general; Jules Verne (1828-1905), author; Lana Turner (1921-1995), actress; Jack Lemmon (1925-2001), actor; James Dean (1931-1955), actor; John Williams (1932- ), composer; Ted Koppel (1940- ), journalist; Nick Nolte (1941- ), actor; Robert Klein (1942- ), comedian/actor; Mary Steenburgen (1953- ), actress; John Grisham (1955- ), author; Bruce Timm (1961- ), animator; Gary Coleman (1968-2010), actor; Mary McCormack (1969- ), actress; Seth Green (1974- ), actor/producer.

TODAY'S FACT: The first movie ever to be screened privately at the White House was "The Birth of a Nation," which Woodrow Wilson viewed in 1915.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1998, Finland beat Sweden 6-0 in the first women's Olympic ice hockey game.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Science, my lad, has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which it was good to fall into, for they led to the truth." -- Jules Verne, "Journey to the Center of the Earth"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2.35 million – estimated youth membership of the Boy Scouts of America in 2016.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Feb. 3) and full moon (Feb. 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 38th day of 2017 and the 49th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1904, the Great Fire of Baltimore began, resulting in the destruction of more than 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

In 1917, a German U-boat sank the British ship California off the Irish coast.

In 1962, a near-total embargo on all trade between the United States and Cuba took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST.

In 1964, the "British Invasion" began as the Beatles arrived in New York for their first U.S. tour.

In 1995, the mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center was arrested in Pakistan.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Deere (1804-1886), businessman; Charles Dickens (1812-1870), author; Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957), author; Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951), author/playwright; Eubie Blake (1887-1983), composer/pianist; Pete Postlethwaite (1946-2011), actor; James Spader (1960- ), actor; Garth Brooks (1962- ), singer-songwriter; Eddie Izzard (1962- ), actor/comedian; Chris Rock (1965- ), actor/comedian; Steve Nash (1974- ), basketball player; Ashton Kutcher (1978- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Baltimore's population was estimated at 621,849 in 2015, making it the 29th-most populous city in the United States.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1969, Diane Crump became the first female jockey to ride in a thoroughbred race in the United States at the Hialeah Park race track in Florida.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In love of home, the love of country has its rise." -- Charles Dickens, "The Old Curiosity Shop"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 178 million -- albums sold by the Beatles in the U.S., as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Feb. 3) and full moon (Feb. 10).