ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 104th day of 2020 and the 26th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City.

In 1941, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a five-year non-aggression pact.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his performance in "Lilies of the Field."

In 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, crippling the spacecraft, which was on its way to the moon.

In 2005, Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to four bombings between 1996 and 1998, including a blast at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third U.S. president; Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), playwright; Eudora Welty (1909-2001), author; Howard Keel (1919-2004), actor/singer; Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), poet/playwright; Paul Sorvino (1939- ), actor; Al Green (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), journalist/author; Ron Perlman (1950- ), actor; Max Weinberg (1951- ), drummer/TV personality; Garry Kasparov (1963- ), chess player; Glenn Howerton (1976- ), actor; Nellie McKay (1982- ), singer-songwriter/actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actress was Halle Berry, for the 2001 film "Monster's Ball."

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest player to win the Masters Tournament, at age 21.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The end is in the beginning and yet you go on." -- Samuel Beckett, "Endgame"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 24 -- days George Frideric Handel worked to complete the music for "Messiah." The oratorio was performed for the first time in Dublin on this day in 1742.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (April 7) and last quarter moon (April 14).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 103rd day of 2020 and the 25th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, in the first engagement of the Civil War.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel in space and the first to orbit the Earth.

In 1981, the first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry Clay (1777-1852), politician/statesman; Lily Pons (1898-1976), opera singer/actress; Beverly Cleary (1916- ), author; Herbie Hancock (1940- ), musician; Ed O'Neill (1946- ), actor; Tom Clancy (1947-2013), author; David Letterman (1947- ), TV personality; Scott Turow (1949- ), author; Jon Krakauer (1954- ), author; Andy Garcia (1956- ), actor; Vince Gill (1957- ), singer-songwriter; Claire Danes (1979- ), actress; Saoirse Ronan (1994- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: At the time of his death, seven of the nine Supreme Court justices had been appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, the New York Giants selected University of North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor second overall in the first round of the NFL draft.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites the public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments." -- Henry Clay

TODAY'S NUMBER: 108 -- length (in minutes) of the first orbital human spaceflight, by Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 3KA spacecraft on this day in 1961.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (April 7) and last quarter moon (April 14).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 102nd day of 2020 and the 24th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1814, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne and was banished to the island of Elba.

In 1945, U.S. forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp.

In 1951, President Harry Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea.

In 1979, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was overthrown.

In 2006, Iran announced that it had successfully enriched uranium.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Dean Acheson (1893-1971), diplomat/statesman; Dale Messick (1906-2005), comic strip artist; Oleg Cassini (1913-2006), fashion designer; Joel Grey (1932- ), actor; Louise Lasser (1939- ), actress; Thomas Harris (1940- ), author/screenwriter; Jason Varitek (1972- ), baseball player; Jennifer Esposito (1973- ), actress; Mark Teixeira (1980- ), baseball player; Joss Stone (1987- ), singer.

TODAY'S FACT: The population of Uganda is the second-youngest in the world, with a median age of 15.8 years old. Only Niger's population, with a median age of 15.4, is younger.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers became the first NHL goaltender to score a goal in the playoffs, leading the Flyers to an 8-5 victory over the Washington Capitals.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You must understand that when you are writing a novel you are not making anything up. It's all there and you just have to find it." -- Thomas Harris, "Red Dragon"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- Nobel Prize recipients among the prisoners freed from Buchenwald concentration camp on this day in 1945. Union leader Leon Jouhaux was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951, author Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, and author Imre Kertesz received the Nobel Prize in literature in 2002.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (April 7) and last quarter moon (April 14).