SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2021

Today is the 108th day of 2021 and the 30th day of spring.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride, warning, “The British are coming!”

In 1906, the Great San Francisco Earthquake struck, killing an estimated 3,000 people and destroying 80% of the city.

In 1942, Lt. Col. James Doolittle led a squadron of U.S. planes in the bombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

In 1983, a suicide bombing at a United States embassy left 63 dead in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 2014, an avalanche killed 16 Nepalese guides on Mount Everest.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Franz von Suppe (1819- 1895), composer; Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), lawyer; Wendy Barrie (1912-1978), actress; James Woods (1947- ), actor; Jeff Dunham (1962- ), ventriloquist/comedian; Conan O’Brien (1963- ), TV personality; David Tennant (1971- ), actor; Eli Roth (1972- ), filmmaker; Derrick Brooks (1973- ), football player; Edgar Wright (1974- ), filmmaker; Miguel Cabrera (1983- ), baseball player; America Ferrera (1984- ), actress; Chloe Bennet (1992- ), actress.

TODAY’S FACT: British soldiers detained Paul Revere before he could complete his “midnight ride” from Boston to Concord, Massachusetts.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1923, Yankee Stadium, the “House That Ruth Built,” opened to baseball fans in the Bronx, New York.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “ There have been recorded cases of people learning how to fly a plane after playing a flight simulator, but there’s never been a case of someone learning to fight by playing ‘Tekken.’” -- Edgar Wright

TODAY’S NUMBER: 0 -- climbers who summited Mount Everest during the 2015 climbing seasons, due to earthquakes in April and May, and heavy snow in October. It was the first year since 1974 that no human stood atop the mountain.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (April 11) and first quarter moon (April 20).

MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021

Today is the 109th day of 2021 and the 31st day of spring.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1775, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War were fought at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

In 1943, an uprising began in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland.

In 1993, a fire broke out at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, killing 76 people and ending a 51-day siege by federal and state authorities.

In 1995, a truck bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168. In 2013, one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was killed in a shootout with police while the other escaped and was captured hours later in Watertown, Massachusetts.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Richard Hughes (1900- 1976), author; Eliot Ness (1903-1957), law enforcement agent; Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967), actress; Dudley Moore (1935-2002), actor; Tim Curry (1946- ), actor; Al Unser Jr. (1962- ), race car driver; Ashley Judd (1968- ), actress; James Franco (1978- ), actor; Kate Hudson (1979- ), actress; Troy Polamalu (1981- ), football player; Maria Sharapova (1987- ), tennis player.

TODAY’S FACT: More than 14% of the world’s population speaks Mandarin Chinese as a first language. Approximately 5.5% of the world’s population speaks English as a first language.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1897, New Yorker John J. McDermott won the first Boston Marathon with a time of 2:55:10.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Do your bit to save humanity from lapsing back into barbarity by reading all the novels you can.” -- Richard Hughes

TODAY’S NUMBER: 175 -- days in orbit for Salyut 1, the first space station, launched by the Soviet Union on this day in 1971.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (April 11) and first quarter moon (April 20).