ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 98th day of 2017 and the 20th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1904, Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale, a series of agreements that formalized peace between the two countries.

In 1935, Congress approved the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, establishing the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

In 2005, more than 4 million mourners gathered in Rome for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

In 2010, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed the New START nuclear arms control treaty.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Harvey Cushing (1869-1939), surgeon; Mary Pickford (1892-1979), actress; Sonja Henie (1912-1969), ice skater; Betty Ford (1918-2011), former first lady; Shecky Greene (1926- ), comedian; Kofi Annan (1938- ), diplomat; Gary Carter (1954-2012), baseball player/sportscaster; Robin Wright (1966- ), actress; Patricia Arquette (1968- ), actress; Katee Sackhoff (1980- ), actress; Felix Hernandez (1986- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity during experiments with mercury wire immersed in liquid helium on this day in 1911.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1975, Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians made his debut as Major League Baseball's first African-American manager. Robinson also continued to play for the team, hitting a home run in his first at-bat of the day.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We can love what we are, without hating what -- and who -- we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings." -- Kofi Annan

TODAY'S NUMBER: 755 -- career home runs for Hank Aaron, second only to Barry Bonds (762) all-time. Aaron hit his 715th career home run on this day in 1974, breaking the record previously held by Babe Ruth.

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 97th day of 2017 and the 19th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1712, slaves in New York City launched a revolt, killing nine white slaveholders.

In 1862, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederate troops in the Battle of Shiloh.

In 1948, the World Health Organization was established by the United Nations.

In 1994, civil war and ethnic genocide began in Rwanda, claiming an estimated 500,000 to 1 million lives over the next several months.

In 2003, U.S. troops took over Saddam Hussein's presidential palace in Baghdad.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Wordsworth (1770-1850), poet; Will Keith Kellogg (1860-1951), Kellogg Company founder; Billie Holiday (1915-1959), singer-songwriter; Ravi Shankar (1920-2012), musician; James Garner (1928-2014), actor; Francis Ford Coppola (1939- ), filmmaker; David Frost (1939-2013), journalist/TV personality; Stan Winston (1946-2008), special effects artist; Jackie Chan (1954- ), actor; James "Buster" Douglas (1960- ), boxer; Russell Crowe (1964- ), actor; Tiki and Ronde Barber (1975- ), football players.

TODAY'S FACT: Educator Booker T. Washington was the first African-American to be depicted on a U.S. postage stamp, issued on this day in 1940.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1963, at age 23, golfer Jack Nicklaus won the first of his six Masters titles.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "True beauty dwells in deep retreats, / Whose veil is unremoved / Till heart with heart in concord beats, / And the lover is beloved." -- William Wordsworth

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,925 -- performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" during its original Broadway run, which began on this day in 1949.

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

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 96th day of 2017 and the 18th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1830, Joseph Smith established the Mormon Church in Fayette Township, New York.

In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, 1,500 years after the last recorded original games.

In 1917, the United States formally entered World War I by declaring war on Germany.

In 1947, the first Tony Awards were presented for achievement in live Broadway theater.

In 1992, the Bosnian War began in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936), journalist; Gil Kane (1926-2000), illustrator; Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996), jazz musician; Merle Haggard (1937-2016), singer-songwriter; Billy Dee Williams (1937- ), actor; Barry Levinson (1942- ), director/producer; John Ratzenberger (1947- ), actor; Michael Rooker (1955- ), actor; Paul Rudd (1969- ), actor; Zach Braff (1975- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: American explorer Robert Peary and his team were long believed to be the first humans to reach the North Pole, on this day in 1909. Navigational errors documented in Peary's journals and analyzed decades later placed the expedition roughly 30 miles outside the Pole.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, the University of Connecticut became the first university to win the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball championships in the same year. UConn repeated the feat in 2014.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Remember we really don’t know anything. Keep your baby eyes (which are the eyes of genius) on what we don’t know. That is your playground, bare and graveled, safe and unbreakable." -- Lincoln Steffens

TODAY'S NUMBER: 20 -- medals won by the United States at the first modern Olympic Games, second only to host nation Greece (46).

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