ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC
Today is the 282nd day of 2021 and the 18th day of autumn.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1635, Roger Williams, the eventual founder of Rhode Island, 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 13,370 performances as of March 12, 2020, when production was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Performances will resume on Oct. 22, 2021.)
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1915, Woodrow Wilson became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "You only find yourself when you disobey. Disobedience is the beginning of responsibility, I think." -- Guillermo del Toro
TODAY'S NUMBER: 36,491 -- marble bricks used to build the Washington Monument.
TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Oct. 6) and first quarter moon (Oct. 12).