NEA DATEBOOK

Today is the 57th day of 2021 and the 68th day of winter.

• TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba and began his return journey to France.

In 1935, Adolf Hitler secretly ordered the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1987, the Tower Commission released its report on the Iran-Contra affair, rebuking President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

In 1993, a truck bomb exploded in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000.

• TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Victor Hugo (1802-1885), author; Levi Strauss (1829-1902), tailor/inventor; William “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846-1917), frontiersman/showman; Tex Avery (1908-1980), animator; Jackie Gleason (1916-1987), actor/comedian; Tony Randall (1920-2004), actor; Fats Domino (1928-2017), singer-songwriter/pianist; Ariel Sharon (19282014), Israeli prime minister; Robert Novak (1931-2009), columnist; Johnny Cash (19322003), singer-songwriter; Michael Bolton (1953- ), singer-songwriter; Erykah Badu (1971- ), singer-songwriter.

• TODAY’S FACT: Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant who went to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, made his first pair of “jeans” out of canvas.

• TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1935, an aging Babe Ruth was released by the New York Yankees and signed a contract to become an assistant manager and player with the Boston Braves.

• TODAY’S QUOTE: “Being honest is my job. That’s what music is for me.” — Erykah Badu

• TODAY’S NUMBER: 14 — age at which “Buffalo Bill” Cody began riding for the Pony Express, after answering an advertisement for “skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily.”

• TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter (Feb. 19) and full moon (Feb. 27).