ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 117th day of 2018 and the 39th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1521, explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Philippines.

In 1865, the steamboat Sultana exploded in the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee, killing some 1,700 passengers.

In 2006, construction began on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) at the World Trade Center site in New York City.

In 2014, John XXIII and John Paul II became the first popes to be canonized as saints since 1954.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Samuel Morse (1791-1872), Morse code co-inventor; Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), soldier/18th U.S. president; Rogers Hornsby (1896-1963), baseball player; Enos Slaughter (1916-2002), baseball player; Jack Klugman (1922-2012), actor; Coretta Scott King (1927-2006), activist; Casey Kasem (1932-2014), radio/TV personality; Sandy Dennis (1937-1992), actress; August Wilson (1945-2005), playwright; Herm Edwards (1954- ), football coach/sportscaster; Patrick Stump (1984- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1667, blind and impoverished poet John Milton sold the copyright to his masterpiece, "Paradise Lost," for 10 pounds (roughly $2,260 in 2017 U.S. currency).

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1956, 31-year-old boxer Rocky Marciano retired with a perfect 49-0 record, the only heavyweight champion to do so.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Have a belief in yourself that is bigger than anyone's disbelief." -- August Wilson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,776 -- architectural height (in feet) of One World Trade Center.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 22) and full moon (April 29).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 116th day of 2018 and the 38th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, was killed by Union troops in Virginia.

In 1937, German planes bombed the city of Guernica in Spain.

In 1986, a reactor ruptured at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union, spreading radioactive material over much of Europe.

In 2000, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation's first bill allowing gay couples to form civil unions.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), artist; Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), landscape architect; Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), philosopher; Charles Richter (1900-1985), seismologist; Bernard Malamud (1914-1986), author; I.M. Pei (1917- ), architect; Carol Burnett (1933- ), actress/comedian; Giancarlo Esposito (1958- ), actor; Jet Li (1963- ), actor; Kevin James (1965- ), actor/comedian; Tom Welling (1977- ), actor; Channing Tatum (1980- ), actor; Aaron Judge (1992- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States has 99 operational nuclear reactors, more than any other nation.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1941, the organ, now a staple at Major League Baseball stadiums, made its debut at Wrigley Field, during a game in which the Chicago Cubs lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to -- if there are no doors or windows -- he walks through a wall." -- Bernard Malamud, "The Man in the Drawer"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 64,000 -- square miles contaminated by radioactive material from the Chernobyl disaster, an area approximately the size of Wisconsin.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 22) and full moon (April 29).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 115th day of 2018 and the 37th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1859, British, French and German engineers began construction on the Suez Canal in Egypt.

In 1898, the United States declared war on Spain.

In 1945, U.S. and Soviet troops met at the Elbe River in Germany, signaling the defeat of German defenses.

In 1953, Francis Crick and James D. Watson published an article describing the double helix structure of DNA.

In 2011, a four-day tornado outbreak in the southern United States began, producing 358 confirmed tornadoes and killing more than 300 people.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), soldier/politician; Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965), journalist; Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), singer; Meadowlark Lemon (1932-2015), basketball player; Jerry Leiber (1933-2011), songwriter/producer; Al Pacino (1940- ), actor; Hank Azaria (1964- ), actor; John Henson (1965-2014), puppeteer; Joe Buck (1969- ), sportscaster; Renee Zellweger (1969- ), actress; Jason Lee (1970- ), actor; Tim Duncan (1976- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1901, New York became the first state to begin requiring automobile license plates.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1950, Chuck Cooper became the first African-American drafted into the NBA when he was selected by the Boston Celtics with the first pick of the second round.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer." -- Edward R. Murrow

TODAY'S NUMBER: 26,723 -- nautical miles traveled by the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton during its 60-day, 21-hour submerged circumnavigation of the world, completed on this day in 1960.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 22) and full moon (April 29).