ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 104th day of 2017 and the 26th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot and fatally wounded President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died the next day.

In 1939, John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" was published by Viking Press.

In 1986, the United States launched air strikes against Libya in retaliation for an April 5 bombing in West Berlin that killed two U.S. servicemen.

In 2003, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium announced the successful completion of the Human Genome Project.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Anne Sullivan Macy (1866-1936), educator; John Gielgud (1904-2000), actor; Rod Steiger (1925-2002), actor; Loretta Lynn (1932- ), singer-songwriter; Julie Christie (1941- ), actress; Pete Rose (1941- ), baseball player; Peter Capaldi (1958- ), actor; Brad Garrett (1960- ), actor; Greg Maddux (1966- ), baseball player; Adrien Brody (1973- ), actor; Anderson Silva (1975- ), mixed martial artist; Sarah Michelle Gellar (1977- ), actress; Rob McElhenney (1977- ), actor; Abigail Breslin (1996- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The Human Genome Project has aided in the discovery of more than 1,800 disease genes to date.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2002, Tiger Woods won his second consecutive Masters Tournament title.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We imagine that we want to escape our selfish and commonplace existence, but we cling desperately to our chains." -- Anne Sullivan Macy

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2.25 -- weight (in pounds) of the heaviest hailstones ever recorded, which fell in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on this day in 1986, in a storm that killed 92.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (April 10) and last quarter moon (April 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 103rd day of 2017 and the 25th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City.

In 1941, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a five-year non-aggression pact.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his performance in "Lilies of the Field."

In 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, crippling the spacecraft, which was on its way to the moon.

In 2005, Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to four bombings between 1996 and 1998, including a blast at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third U.S. president; Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), playwright; Eudora Welty (1909-2001), author; Howard Keel (1919-2004), actor/singer; Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), poet/playwright; Paul Sorvino (1939- ), actor; Al Green (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), journalist/author; Ron Perlman (1950- ), actor; Max Weinberg (1951- ), drummer/TV personality; Garry Kasparov (1963- ), chess player; Nellie McKay (1982- ), singer-songwriter/actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Actress was Halle Berry, for the 2001 film "Monster's Ball."

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest player to win the Masters Tournament, at age 21.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Don't wait to be hunted to hide, that's always been my motto." -- Samuel Beckett, "Molloy"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 24 -- days George Frideric Handel worked to complete the music for "Messiah." The oratorio was performed for the first time in Dublin on this day in 1742.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (April 10) and last quarter moon (April 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 102nd day of 2017 and the 24th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, in the first engagement of the Civil War.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel in space and the first to orbit the Earth.

In 1981, the first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry Clay (1777-1852), politician/statesman; Lily Pons (1898-1976), opera singer/actress; Beverly Cleary (1916- ), author; Herbie Hancock (1940- ), musician; Ed O'Neill (1946- ), actor; Tom Clancy (1947-2013), author; David Letterman (1947- ), TV personality; Scott Turow (1949- ), author; Jon Krakauer (1954- ), author; Andy Garcia (1956- ), actor; Vince Gill (1957- ), singer-songwriter; Claire Danes (1979- ), actress; Saoirse Ronan (1994- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: At the time of his death, seven of the nine Supreme Court justices had been appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, the New York Giants selected University of North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor in the first round of the NFL draft.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Man is a creature of hope and invention, both of which belie the idea that things cannot be changed." -- Tom Clancy

TODAY'S NUMBER: 108 -- length (in minutes) of the first orbital human spaceflight, by Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 3KA spacecraft on this day in 1961.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (April 10) and last quarter moon (April 19).