Today is the 159th day of 2023 and the 81st day of spring.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1789, James Madison, then a member of the House of Representatives, proposed the Bill of Rights to Congress.

In 1949, George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” was published.

In 1968, James Earl Ray, who was suspected of assassinating Martin Luther King Jr., was arrested in London.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan became the first U.S. president to address a joint session of the British Parliament.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Robert Schumann (1810-1856), composer; Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), architect; Francis Crick (1916-2004), biophysicist; Barbara Bush (1925-2018), U.S. first lady; Jerry Stiller (1927-2020), comedian/actor; Joan Rivers (1933-2014), comedian/ actress; Sara Paretsky (1947- ), author; Tim Berners-Lee (1955- ), World Wide Web inventor; Julianna Margulies (1966- ), actress; Kanye West (1977- ), rapper/producer; Maria Menounos (1978- ), actress/TV personality; Kim Clijsters (1983- ), tennis player.

TODAY’S FACT: George Orwell died just seven months after “Nineteen Eighty-Four” was published, due to complications from tuberculosis.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1966, the National Football League and the American Football League announced their merger as the NFL, with American and National conferences.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “People have less privacy and are crammed together in cities, but in the wide open spaces they secretly keep tabs on each other a lot more.” -- Sara Paretsky TODAY’S NUMBER: 65 seats in the first session of the House of Representatives (1789-1791).

TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (June 3) and last quarter moon (June 10).