ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 132nd day of 2018 and the 54th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1780, British forces took Charleston, South Carolina, during the Revolutionary War.

In 1937, King George VI of the United Kingdom and Elizabeth, the future queen mother, were crowned at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

In 1949, the Soviet Union lifted its blockade of Berlin.

In 2002, Jimmy Carter became the first former or sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro.

In 2008, a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck in Sichuan province, China, leaving more than 69,000 people dead, 18,000 missing and 4.8 million homeless.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Edward Lear (1812-1888), painter/poet; Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), nurse; Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003), actress; Yogi Berra (1925-2015), baseball player/manager; Burt Bacharach (1928- ), composer; George Carlin (1937-2008), comedian; Gabriel Byrne (1950- ), actor; Ving Rhames (1959- ), actor; Tony Hawk (1968- ), skateboarder; Catherine Tate (1968- ), actress; Malin Akerman (1978- ), actress; Jason Biggs (1978- ), actor; Domhnall Gleeson (1983- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, in 1860, and was readmitted in 1868.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2008, Cleveland Indians second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera turned the 14th unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball history.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." -- George Carlin

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4 -- American presidents who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama).

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (May 7) and new moon (May 15).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 131st day of 2018 and the 53rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1858, Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.

In 1894, the Pullman Strike began, involving more than 3,000 Chicago railroad car plant workers.

In 1987, the first heart-lung transplant was performed in Baltimore.

In 1997, the IBM chess-playing computer Deep Blue defeated world champion Garry Kasparov with two wins, one loss and three draws in a six-game match.

In 1998, the first euro coins were minted in France.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Irving Berlin (1888-1989), composer; Margaret Rutherford (1892-1972), actress; Martha Graham (1894-1991), dancer/choreographer; Salvador Dali (1904-1989), painter; Mike Lupica (1952- ), sportswriter; John Clayton (1954- ), sportswriter; Natasha Richardson (1963-2009), actress; Tim Blake Nelson (1964- ), actor; Cory Monteith (1982-2013), actor; Cam Newton (1989- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The 2 euro coin is the highest-valued euro coin, and it is the only one with writing on its edge. Each country has its own design for the edge writing on its 2 euro coin.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1996, a blizzard on Mount Everest led to the deaths of eight people during summit attempts. The event was depicted in the 2015 film "Everest."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I think the reason dance has held such an ageless magic for the world is that it has been the symbol of the performance of living." -- Martha Graham, "I am a Dancer"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 150,000 -- members of the American Railway Union who became involved in the Pullman Strike of 1894 as it spread across the United States.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (May 7) and new moon (May 15).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 130th day of 2018 and the 52nd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1837, after months of economic downturn, several New York banks refused to convert paper currency to gold or silver, setting off the Panic of 1837.

In 1869, a golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, in ceremonies marking the symbolic completion of the U.S. transcontinental railroad.

In 1940, Winston Churchill was appointed prime minister of Great Britain.

In 2013, the spire of One World Trade Center was completed, making it the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865), actor/assassin; Fred Astaire (1899-1987), singer/dancer/actor; David O. Selznick (1902-1965), film producer; T. Berry Brazelton (1918-2018), pediatrician/author; Pat Summerall (1930-2013), football player/broadcaster; Donovan (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Bono (1960- ), singer-songwriter; Linda Evangelista, (1965- ), supermodel; Kenan Thompson (1978- ), actor; Odette Annable (1985- ), actress; Salvador Perez (1990- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in 1940, King George VI himself summoned Winston Churchill to Buckingham Palace and asked him to form a government.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1970, Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins scored the game-winning goal in sudden-death overtime to give Boston the Stanley Cup title over the St. Louis Blues.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There comes a day when people begin to say, 'Why doesn't that old duffer retire?' I want to get out while they're still saying Astaire is a hell of a dancer." -- Fred Astaire

TODAY'S NUMBER: 140,000 -- miles of freight railroad track currently in operation in the United States.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (May 7) and new moon (May 15).