ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 278th day of 2020 and the 13th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1535, the complete English translation of the Bible was printed for the first time.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

In 1958, trans-Atlantic passenger jet service began with commercial flights between New York and London.

In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to visit the United States.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893), 19th U.S. president; Edward Stratemeyer (1862-1930), children's author; Buster Keaton (1895-1966), comedian/filmmaker; Charlton Heston (1923-2008), actor; Jackie Collins (1937-2015), author; Anne Rice (1941- ), author; Tony La Russa (1944- ), baseball manager; Susan Sarandon (1946- ), actress; Christoph Waltz (1956- ), actor; Liev Schreiber (1967- ), actor; Alicia Silverstone (1976- ), actress; Derrick Rose (1988- ), basketball player; Dakota Johnson (1989- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The longest regularly scheduled nonstop passenger flights in the world is Singapore Airlines Flight 21, which departs from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey for Changi International Airport in Singapore with a scheduled length of just over 18 hours.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers, who had earned the nickname "Dem Bums" after losing four World Series in the previous eight seasons, defeated the New York Yankees to finally win their first championship.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals." -- Rutherford B. Hayes

TODAY'S NUMBER: 184 -- weight (in pounds) of Sputnik, according to Soviet news agency TASS on the day of its launch.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Oct. 1) and last quarter moon (Oct. 9).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 277th day of 2020 and the 12th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving.

In 1952, the United Kingdom conducted a successful test of an atomic bomb off the coast of Australia, becoming the world's third nuclear power.

In 1990, East and West Germany were reunified.

In 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

In 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, a bailout of the U.S. financial system.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), author; Harvey Kurtzman (1924-1993), cartoonist; Gore Vidal (1925-2012), author; Chubby Checker (1941- ), singer-songwriter; Al Sharpton (1954- ), minister/activist; Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-1990), musician; Fred Couples (1959- ), golfer; Clive Owen (1964- ), actor; Gwen Stefani (1969- ), singer-songwriter; Lena Headey (1973- ), actress; Talib Kweli (1975- ), rapper; Tessa Thompson (1983- ), actress; Alicia Vikander (1988- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1789, President George Washington announced that Nov. 26 of that year would be "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer," the first in U.S. history.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1951, New York Giants player Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World," a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to clinch the National League pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once." -- Thomas Wolfe, "You Can't Go Home Again"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $1 trillion -- amount of public and private funds that eastern Germany received from western Germany in the five years following reunification.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Oct. 1) and last quarter moon (Oct. 9).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 276th day of 2020 and the 11th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1835, the Texas Revolution began as American settlers battled Mexican troops near the Guadalupe River.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first black Supreme Court justice.

In 2002, the first two "Beltway sniper" attacks left one person dead in Montgomery County, Maryland.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Nat Turner (1800-1831), slave rebellion leader; Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), political/spiritual leader; Cordell Hull (1871-1955), statesman; Groucho Marx (1890-1977), comedian/actor; Bud Abbott (1895-1974), comedian/actor; Graham Greene (1904-1991), novelist; Rex Reed (1938- ), movie critic; Steve Sabol (1942-2012), director/producer; Don McLean (1945- ), singer-songwriter; Sting (1951- ), singer-songwriter; Kelly Ripa (1970- ), actress/TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: After translating Leo Tolstoy's "Letter to a Hindu," Mohandas Gandhi began a regular correspondence with the novelist that lasted from October 1909 until Tolstoy's death in November 1910.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2005, the Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-14 in Mexico City. It was the first regular-season NFL game to take place outside the United States.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "A story has no beginning or end: Arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead." -- Graham Greene, "The End of the Affair"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 17,897 -- number of original "Peanuts" comic strips (featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy) published between the strip's debut on this day in 1950 and creator Charles Schulz's death in 2000.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Oct. 1) and last quarter moon (Oct. 9).