ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the seventh day of 2018 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: "Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground." -- Zora Neale Hurston, "Dust Tracks on a Road"

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 full moon (Jan. 1) and last quarter moon (Jan. 8).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the sixth day of 2018 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.

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’s ex-husband.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life." -- Kahlil Gibran

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 full moon (Jan. 1) and last quarter moon (Jan. 8).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the fifth day of 2018 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: "Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means ..." -- Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose"

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: Between full moon (Jan. 1) and last quarter moon (Jan. 8).