ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 20th day of 2021 and the 31st day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1841, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British.

In 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union was founded.

In 1981, the Iran hostage crisis ended as 52 American captives were released in Tehran, just after President Jimmy Carter left office.

In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African American president.

In 2016, Donald Trump, 70, was sworn in as the oldest first-term U.S. president.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Burns (1896-1996), actor/comedian; Federico Fellini (1920-1993), director; DeForest Kelley (1920-1999), actor; Slim Whitman (1923-2013), singer-songwriter; Patricia Neal (1926-2010), actress; Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930- ), astronaut; David Lynch (1946- ), director; Paul Stanley (1952- ), singer-songwriter; Bill Maher (1956- ), comedian/TV host; R.A. Salvatore (1959- ), author; Ozzie Guillen (1964- ), baseball player/manager; Rainn Wilson (1966- ), actor; Questlove (1971- ), musician.

TODAY'S FACT: Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time on this day in 1986.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1892, the first official basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts. The two nine-man teams used a soccer ball and peach baskets.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Time will tell. Time is always telling. Time never stops telling." -- Questlove

TODAY'S NUMBER: 444 -- days the hostages were held in the U.S. embassy in Iran.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Jan 20).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 19th day of 2021 and the 30th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1915, two German zeppelins dropped bombs on the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in England.

In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected as India's first woman prime minister.

In 1977, snow fell in Miami for the only time in recorded history.

In 2006, NASA launched the New Horizons space probe to study the dwarf planet Pluto.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), author/poet; Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), artist; Jean Stapleton (1923-2013), actress; Tippi Hedren (1930- ), actress; Janis Joplin (1943-1970), singer-songwriter; Dolly Parton (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Paula Deen (1947- ), chef/author; Robert Palmer (1949-2003), singer-songwriter; Katey Sagal (1954- ), actress; Thomas Kinkade (1958-2012), painter; Junior Seau (1969-2012), football player; Drea de Matteo (1972- ), actress; Frank Caliendo (1974- ), comedian; Logan Lerman (1992- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Dolly Parton holds two Guinness World Records: most decades with a top-20 hit on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart (six) and most hits on the U.S. Hot Country songs chart by a female artist (107).

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1903, the French sports newspaper L'Auto announced the creation of a new long-distance bicycle race called the Tour de France that would begin in May of that year.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears." -- Edgar Allan Poe, "The Philosophy of Composition"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 71.7 -- percentage of U.S. households that tuned in to watch "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," the episode of "I Love Lucy" in which the titular character gave birth. Star Lucille Ball actually gave birth to her son, Desi Arnaz Jr., on the same day the episode aired, on this day in 1953.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Jan. 12) and first quarter moon (Jan 20).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 18th day of 2021 and the 29th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1788, English settlers landed in Australia to establish a penal colony.

In 1943, the first armed uprising began at the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland.

In 1964, planners unveiled the designs for New York's World Trade Center.

In 1990, Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry was arrested on drug possession charges as a result of an FBI sting operation.

In 1993, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), political philosopher; Daniel Webster (1782-1852), statesman/orator; A.A. Milne (1882-1956), children's author; Cary Grant (1904-1986), actor; Danny Kaye (1911-1987), entertainer; Kevin Costner (1955- ), actor; Mark Rylance (1960- ), actor; Mark Messier (1961- ), hockey player; Dave Attell (1965- ), actor/comedian; Dave Bautista (1969- ), wrestler/actor; Jesse L. Martin (1969- ), actor; Julius Peppers (1980- ), football player; Jason Segel (1980- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Australia is the world's sixth-largest country by area, at 2.97 million square miles.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1976, wide receiver Lynn Swann gained 161 yards on four receptions and was named MVP as Pittsburgh defeated Dallas 21-17 in Super Bowl X.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice." -- Baron de Montesquieu

TODAY'S NUMBER: 582,578 -- square miles of Pacific Ocean encompassed by the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, initially established at 139,797 square miles by President George W. Bush in June 2006 and expanded to its current size by President Barack Obama in 2016.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Jan. 12) and first quarter moon (Jan 20).