ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the eighth day of 2019 and the 19th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1790, President George Washington gave the first State of the Union address.

In 1877, Crazy Horse lost his final battle against the U.S. Cavalry at Wolf Mountain in Montana Territory.

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlined his "Fourteen Points" peace plan.

In 1982, AT&T agreed to give up its 22 local "Baby Bells."

In 2011, a gunman opened fire at a public event for Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, killing six people and injuring 13, including Giffords.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jose Ferrer (1912-1992), actor; Soupy Sales (1926-2009), TV personality; Elvis Presley (1935-1977), singer/actor; Bob Eubanks (1938- ), TV game show host; Graham Chapman (1941-1989), actor/comedian; Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), physicist; Terry Brooks (1944- ), author; David Bowie (1947-2016), singer-songwriter; Michelle Forbes (1965- ), actress; R. Kelly (1967- ), singer-songwriter; Rachel Nichols (1980- ), actress; Kim Jong Un (1984- ), North Korean leader.

TODAY'S FACT: About 600,000 people annually visit Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1901, the first tournament sanctioned by the American Bowling Congress was held in Chicago.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If you do not hear music in your words, you have put too much thought into your writing and not enough heart." -- Terry Brooks, "Sometimes the Magic Works"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 641 -- projected width (in feet) of the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota, which will be the largest sculpture in the world if it is completed.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Jan. 5) and first quarter moon (Jan. 13).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the seventh day of 2019 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: "Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." -- Zora Neale Hurston, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me"

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 new moon (Jan. 5) and first quarter moon (Jan. 13).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the sixth day of 2019 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: "Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." -- 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 new moon (Jan. 5) and first quarter moon (Jan. 13).