Today is the 31st day of 2021 and the 42nd day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1606, Guy Fawkes was executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot in Britain.

In 1958, Explorer 1 was launched, marking the first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.

In 1968, the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive began in South Vietnam.

In 2010, James Cameron’s “Avatar” became the first film to reach a worldwide gross of $2 billion.

In 2020, The United Kingdom’s membership in the European Union ended.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Franz Schubert (1797-1828), composer; John O’Hara (1905-1970), author; Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), baseball player; Carol Channing (1921-2019), actress; Norman Mailer (1923-2007), author/journalist; Ernie Banks (1931-2015), baseball player; Jonathan Banks (1947- ), actor; Nolan Ryan (1947- ), baseball player; Minnie Driver (1970- ), actress; Portia de Rossi (1973- ), actress; Kerry Washington (1977- ), actress; Justin Timberlake (1981- ), singer-songwriter; Marcus Mumford (1987- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: The Toyota Corolla is the bestselling car of all time, with 45 million units sold since its debut in 1966.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1999, Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway won his second consecutive Super Bowl and the final game of his NFL playing career, leading the Denver Broncos to a 34-19 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXI I I . Elway was also selected as the game’s MVP.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.” -- Norman Mailer

TODAY’S NUMBER: $22.54 - amount of the first Social Security check, issued on this day in 1940 to Ida May Fuller, who lived on a Vermont farm. Having worked less than three years under Social Security, she paid only $24.75 into the system, but she had collected $22,888.92 by the time of her death in 1975.

TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (Jan. 28) and last quarter moon (Feb. 4).

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2021

Today is the 32nd day of 2021 and the 43rd day of winter.

TODY’S HISTORY: In 1861, a Texas state convention voted 166-8 in favor of a measure to secede from the Union.

In 1884, the first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.

In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. and more than 700 others were arrested at a protest in Selma, Alabama.

In 2003, the U.S. space shuttle Columbia broke apart shortly after entering the atmosphere over Texas, killing its seven-member crew.

TODAY’S B I RTHDAYS: John Ford (1894-1973), film director; Clark Gable (1901-1960), actor; Langston Hughes (1902-1967), poet; Renata Tebaldi (1922-2004), opera singer; Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007), Russian president; Sherman Hemsley (1938-2012), actor; Terry Jones (1942-2020), actor/comedian; Rick James (1948-2004), singer-songwriter; Princess Stephanie of Monaco (1965- ); Michael C. Hall (1971- ), actor; Ronda Rousey (1987- ), actress/professional wrestler; Harry Styles (1994- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: Harvard scholar Carter G. Woodson pioneered “Negro History Week” in 1926 and designated the second week in February for its celebration, to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Negro History Week was later expanded to include all of February and renamed “Black History Month.”

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 2004, a “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl halftime show resulted in the exposure of singer Janet Jackson’s breast on live national television during a duet with Justin Timberlake.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “I loved my friend / He went away from me / There’s nothing more to say / The poem ends, / Soft as it began- / I loved my friend.” -- Langston Hughes

TODAY’S NUMBER: 1,014 -- height (in feet) of the Shard, the tallest building in the United Kingdom, which opened in London on this day in 2013.

TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (Jan. 28) and last quarter moon (Feb. 4).