ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 21st day of 2025 and the 32nd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1793, King Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine in Paris.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis resigned from the U.S. Senate to lead the Confederacy during the Civil War.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.

In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that for the first time, the largest minority group in the United States was Hispanics (who may be of any race).

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ethan Allen (1738-1789), writer/military leader; Christian Dior (1905-1957), fashion designer; Telly Savalas (1922-1994), actor; Wolfman Jack (1938-1995), disc jockey; Jack Nicklaus (1940- ), golfer; Placido Domingo (1941- ), opera singer; Paul Allen (1953-2018), co-founder of Microsoft; Geena Davis (1956- ), actress; Hakeem Olajuwon (1963- ), basketball player; Jam Master Jay (1965-2002), rapper; Ken Leung (1970- ), actor; Cat Power (1972- ), singer-songwriter; Luke Grimes (1984- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The guillotine was used for executions in France as recently as 1977. The death penalty was abolished there in 1981.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1979, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl XIII to become the first NFL team to win three Super Bowls.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game's two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself." -- Jack Nicklaus

TODAY'S NUMBER: 9 -- price in shillings (approximately $77 in modern American currency) of William Hill Brown's "The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature," published in Boston on this day in 1789. The work is widely considered to be the first American novel.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Jan. 21).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 20th day of 2025 and the 31st day of winter.

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

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 2021, Joe Biden, 78, was sworn in as the oldest first-term U.S. president, and Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female U.S. vice 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; Rainn Wilson (1966- ), actor; Questlove (1971- ), musician; Evan Peters (1987- ), actor.

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: "Armstrong described the lunar surface as 'beautiful.' I thought to myself, 'It's not really beautiful. It's magnificent that we're here, but what a desolate place we are visiting.'" -- Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin

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

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Jan. 13) and last quarter moon (Jan. 21).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 19th day of 2025 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 prime minister, the first woman to hold this office.

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 10 Guinness World Records, including most Grammy nominations by a female country artist (51) and most No. 1 hits on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart by a female artist (25).

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 July of that year.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence." -- Edgar Allan Poe, "Eleonora"

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 full moon (Jan. 13) and last quarter moon (Jan. 21).