ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 26th day of 2021 and the 37th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1837, Michigan was admitted as the 26th U.S. state.

In 1950, the Indian Constitution went into effect, marking the birth of the Republic of India.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton denied allegations of an extramarital affair during a televised speech.

In 2020, NBA great Kobe Bryant and eight others onboard were killed in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), military leader; Maria von Trapp (1905-1987), matriarch of singing family/memoirist; Paul Newman (1925-2008), actor; Jules Feiffer (1929- ), cartoonist/writer; Scott Glenn (1939- ), actor; Gene Siskel (1946-1999), journalist/critic; David Strathairn (1949- ), actor; Eddie Van Halen (1955-2020), guitarist/songwriter; Ellen DeGeneres (1958- ), comedian/talk show host; Wayne Gretzky (1961- ), hockey player; Vince Carter (1977- ), basketball player; Sasha Banks (1992- ), professional wrestler.

TODAY'S FACT: The first Library of Congress was burned (along with the rest of the Capitol building) by British soldiers in 1814, and its 3,000 books were destroyed. The library was rebuilt in part through the purchase of President Thomas Jefferson's personal library of 6,487 books in 1815.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1986, Chicago crushed New England 46-10 in Super Bowl XX, as the Bears' renowned defense held the Patriots to seven yards rushing.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Obviously the Man Upstairs gave me something and it touches people, and I'm just so blessed." -- Eddie Van Halen

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1.37 -- weight (in pounds) of the Cullinan Diamond, the largest gem-quality diamond ever found. The 3,106.75-carat gem was discovered in the Premier Mine near Pretoria, South Africa, on this day in 1905.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Jan 20) and full moon (Jan. 28).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 25th day of 2021 and the 36th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1533, King Henry VIII of England secretly married Anne Boleyn.

In 1787, Shays' Rebellion forces failed in an attempt to overtake the U.S. arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In 1915, Alexander Graham Bell made the first transcontinental telephone call from New York to San Francisco.

In 1961, a few days after his inauguration, President John F. Kennedy held the first televised presidential news conference.

In 2004, NASA's Opportunity rover landed on the surface of Mars.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Robert Burns (1759-1796), poet; W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), author/playwright; Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), author/essayist; Etta James (1938-2012), singer-songwriter; Tobe Hooper (1943-2017), filmmaker; Paul Nurse (1949- ), biochemist/Nobel laureate; Steve Prefontaine (1951-1975), runner; Jenifer Lewis (1957- ), actress; Geoff Johns (1973- ), screenwriter/producer; Alicia Keys (1981- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: The Mars Opportunity rover continued to make scientific observations and report back to Earth until June 2018, more than 13 years beyond the duration of activity for which it was designed.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games began in Chamonix, France.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Failure isn't an option. I've erased the word 'fear' from my vocabulary, and I think when you erase fear, you can't fail." -- Alicia Keys

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 -- wives of King Henry VIII. He ordered two, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, executed by beheading.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Jan 20) and full moon (Jan. 28).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 24th day of 2021 and the 35th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, setting off the California Gold Rush.

In 1984, the first Apple Macintosh computer went on sale.

In 1995, the O.J. Simpson murder trial began as the prosecution made its opening statement.

In 2003, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn in as the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Pierre de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), playwright; Edith Wharton (1862-1937), author; Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), artist; Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012), actor; Oral Roberts (1918-2009), evangelist; Neil Diamond (1941- ), singer-songwriter; Aaron Neville (1941- ), singer; John Belushi (1949-1982), actor; Nastassja Kinski (1961- ), actress; Mary Lou Retton (1968- ), Olympic gymnast; Ed Helms (1974- ), actor; Kristen Schaal (1978- ), actress/comedian; Daveed Diggs (1982- ), actor; Mischa Barton (1986- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The first Apple Macintosh computer had a 9-inch monitor and 128 kilobytes of RAM. It was priced at $2,495.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1980, Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday bought the New York Mets for an estimated $21.1 million, at the time the most ever paid for a baseball franchise.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul." -- Edith Wharton

TODAY'S NUMBER: $81 million -- estimated value (not adjusted for inflation) of the gold extracted from California in 1852, the peak year of the California Gold Rush.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Jan 20) and full moon (Jan. 28).