ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 284th day of 2020 and the 19th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy (then known as the U.S. Naval School) opened in Annapolis, Maryland.

In 1957, the core of a nuclear reactor caught fire in Cumbria, England.

In 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned the vice presidency after being charged with tax evasion.

In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to give President George W. Bush authority to use military force in Iraq.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), composer; Helen Hayes (1900-1993), actress; Thelonious Monk (1917-1982), jazz pianist/composer; Harold Pinter (1930-2008), director/playwright; Ben Vereen (1946- ), actor/singer/dancer; Nora Roberts (1950- ), author; David Lee Roth (1954- ), singer-songwriter; Michael Giacchino (1967- ), composer; Brett Favre (1969- ), football player; Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1974- ), race car driver; Aimee Teegarden (1989- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The London Bridge that had spanned the River Thames in London since 1831 was disassembled in 1967 and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It opened there on this day in 1971.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1920, the Cleveland Indians' Bill Wambsganss and Elmer Smith performed the first unassisted triple play and hit the first grand slam, respectively, in World Series history, in Game 5 against the New York Yankees.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "When people come and see my show, I try to infuse into them that they can walk away feeling like their lives are a victory." -- Ben Vereen

TODAY'S NUMBER: 361,311 -- shareholders in the Green Bay Packers in 2020. It is the only publicly owned NFL franchise.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Oct. 9) and new moon (Oct. 16).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 283rd day of 2020 and the 18th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1635, Rhode Island founder Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident.

In 1888, the Washington Monument opened to the general public.

In 1967, guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara was executed for attempting to lead revolutionaries in Bolivia.

In 1986, the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" opened in London's West End.

In 2006, North Korea claimed it had performed its first nuclear test.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Alastair Sim (1900-1976), actor; John Lennon (1940-1980), singer-songwriter; Jackson Browne (1948- ), singer-songwriter; Sharon Osbourne (1952- ), media personality; Tony Shalhoub (1953- ), actor; Scott Bakula (1954- ), actor; Mike Singletary (1958- ), football player; Guillermo del Toro (1964- ), director; Steve McQueen (1969- ), filmmaker; Annika Sorenstam (1970- ), golfer; Brandon Routh (1979- ), actor; Bella Hadid (1996- ), model.

TODAY'S FACT: Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" is the longest-running show in the history of Broadway, with 13,174 performances as of late September 2019.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1915, Woodrow Wilson became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you're not a traveler. You're a tourist." -- Guillermo del Toro

TODAY'S NUMBER: 36,491 -- marble bricks used to build the Washington Monument.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Oct. 9).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 282nd day of 2020 and the 17th day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire leveled three square miles, leaving 100,000 homeless and more than 300 dead.

In 1945, President Harry Truman announced that the United States would share its knowledge of the atomic bomb exclusively with Britain and Canada.

In 2005, an earthquake on the border of India and Pakistan killed more than 75,000 people and left 3 million homeless.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Otto Heinrich Warburg (1883-1970), physiologist/physician; Frank Herbert (1920-1986), author; Harvey Pekar (1939-2010), writer; Jesse Jackson (1941- ), civil rights leader; Chevy Chase (1943- ), comedian/actor; R.L. Stine (1943- ), children's author; Sigourney Weaver (1949- ), actress; Darrell Hammond (1955- ), actor/comedian; Matt Damon (1970- ), actor; Nick Cannon (1980- ), actor/TV personality; Bruno Mars (1985- ), singer; Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. (1993- ), race car driver; Bella Thorne (1997- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: On the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, a fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, (about 250 miles outside of Chicago) destroyed the town and claimed more than 1,200 lives.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1956, New York Yankee Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect World Series game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming from inside. There's no tricks. It's honesty with big melodies." -- Bruno Mars

TODAY'S NUMBER: $33.2 billion -- estimated cost (in 2020 dollars) of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bombs, through August 1945.

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