ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 271st day of 2018 and the seventh day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1066, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invaded England.

In 1924, the first aerial circumnavigation of the world, conducted by a team of aviators from the U.S. Army Air Service, ended in Seattle, Washington, after 175 days.

In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the pregnancy-terminating drug RU-486 after a 12-year controversy.

In 2008, the space transportation company SpaceX launched Falcon 1, the first private spacecraft, into orbit.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923), author; Ed Sullivan (1901-1974), TV personality; Max Schmeling (1905-2005), boxer; Al Capp (1909-1979), cartoonist; Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996), actor; Brigitte Bardot (1934- ), actress; Ben E. King (1938-2015), singer-songwriter; Janeane Garofalo (1964- ), comedian/actress; Mira Sorvino (1967- ), actress; Naomi Watts (1968- ), actress; Fedor Emelianenko (1976- ), mixed martial artist; Hilary Duff (1987- ), singer/actress.

TODAY'S FACT: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rockets were named after the Millennium Falcon spacecraft from the movie "Star Wars."

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1941, Ted Williams hit 6-for-8 in a doubleheader to finish the season with a batting average over .400 (.406), a feat no player since has accomplished.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Miranda Sawyer had a heart, of course, but she had never used it for any other purpose than the pumping and circulating of blood." -- Kate Douglas Wiggin, "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6.8 -- depth (in miles) below sea level of Challenger Deep, the lowest point on Earth, located at the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Sept. 24) and last quarter moon (Oct. 2).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 270th day of 2018 and the sixth day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1908, the first Model T automobile left the Ford factory in Detroit.

In 1954, "Tonight Starring Steve Allen," the late-night talk show that eventually became "The Tonight Show," premiered on NBC.

In 1962, Rachel Carson's environmental science book "Silent Spring" was published.

In 1964, the Warren Commission report was released, stating that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Nast (1840-1902), cartoonist; Jim Thompson (1906-1977), author; Jayne Meadows (1919-2015), actress; Arthur Penn (1922-2010), filmmaker; Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (1924-1966), jazz pianist; Wilford Brimley (1934- ), actor; Dick Schaap (1934-2001), sportscaster; Meat Loaf (1947- ), singer-songwriter; Shaun Cassidy (1958- ), singer/actor; Gwyneth Paltrow (1972- ), actress; Lil Wayne (1982- ), rapper; Avril Lavigne (1984- ), singer.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1777, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served as the U.S. capital for one day, as the Continental Congress met there in the wake of the British capture of Philadelphia.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1998, Mark McGwire hit his 69th and 70th home runs in the last game of his record-setting season. McGwire admitted to steroid use in 2010.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I ain't saying you're a liar, because that wouldn't be polite. But I'll tell you this, ma'am. If I loved liars, I'd hug you to death." -- Jim Thompson, "Pop. 1280"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 8 -- inches of annual precipitation in the coastal regions of Antarctica. The inland portion of Antarctica receives even less, qualifying the continent as a desert.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Sept. 24) and last quarter moon (Oct. 2).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, Thomas Jefferson was named the first U.S. secretary of state, and John Jay was named the first chief justice of the United States.

Today is the 269th day of 2018 and the fifth day of autumn.

In 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon and Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts met in the first televised presidential debate.

In 1983, Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov correctly dismissed an early warning system report of an American nuclear missile launch as a computer error.

In 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America introduced the NC-17 rating, replacing the stigmatized X rating for films intended for viewers aged 17 and older.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Johnny Appleseed (1774-1845), environmentalist; Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), physiologist; Winsor McCay (1867-1934), animator/cartoonist; T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), writer; George Gershwin (1898-1937), composer; Jack LaLanne (1914-2011), fitness expert; Marty Robbins (1925-1982), singer-songwriter; Olivia Newton-John (1948- ), actress/singer; Linda Hamilton (1956- ), actress; Jim Caviezel (1968- ), actor; Serena Williams (1981- ), tennis player.

TODAY'S FACT: "Abbey Road," the last album for which all four members of The Beatles participated in the recording sessions, was released on this day in 1969.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1983, the Royal Perth Yacht Club's Australia II won the America's Cup, becoming the first non-American winner in the cup's 132-year history.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood." -- T.S. Eliot

TODAY'S NUMBER: 732 -- performances of "West Side Story" during its original Broadway run, which opened on this day in 1957 and closed on June 27, 1959.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Sept. 24) and last quarter moon (Oct. 2).