ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 99th day of 2018 and the 21st day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.

In 1940, Germany launched Operation Weseruebung, invading Norway and Denmark.

In 1959, NASA announced the selection of the first seven astronauts, whom the media dubbed the "Mercury Seven."

In 2003, Iraqis celebrating the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime destroyed a 20-foot statue of Hussein in Baghdad's Firdaus Square.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), poet; Curly Lambeau (1898-1965), football player/coach; Paul Robeson (1898-1976), athlete/actor/singer; Hugh Hefner (1926-2017), publisher; Carl Perkins (1932-1998), singer-songwriter; Peter Gammons (1945- ), sportswriter; Dennis Quaid (1954- ), actor; Joe Scarborough (1963- ), TV personality; Jeffrey Zucker (1965- ), TV executive; Cynthia Nixon (1966- ), actress; Jay Baruchel (1982- ), actor; Leighton Meester (1986- ), actress; Kristen Stewart, (1990- ), actress; Elle Fanning (1998- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The "Mercury Seven" were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1965, the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, hosted the first Major League Baseball game to be played indoors. The Astros defeated the New York Yankees in the exhibition game by a score of 2-1.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs." -- Charles Baudelaire, "La Fanfario"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $384 million -- estimated cost of the Mercury program (1959-1963), NASA's first human spaceflight project.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (April 8) and new moon (April 15).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 98th day of 2018 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 recognize that we are the products of many cultures, traditions and memories; that mutual respect allows us to study and learn from other cultures; and that we gain strength by combining the foreign with the familiar." -- 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: Last quarter moon (April 8).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 97th day of 2018 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: "Burn all the statutes and their shelves: / They stir us up against our kind; / And worse, against ourselves." -- William Wordsworth, "Rob Roy’s Grave"

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 full moon (March 31) and last quarter moon (April 8).