On this Day... May 24

■ In 1819, Victoria, queen of the British Empire, was born, the only child of the duke of Kent and his German wife, Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. By no means as prim as her image suggests, she enjoyed risqué jokes, exchanged nude drawings with husband Albert before they were married, and commented that her herd of grandchildren made the family seem like “the rabbits in Windsor Park.” Once, while at lunch with an aging and rather deaf admiral, she almost had a public laughing fit. He kept talking about the sinking of the ship “Eurydice,” and desperate to change the subject, the queen asked how his sister was. Undeflected, the admiral continued, “Well, ma’am, I am going to have her turned over, take a good look at her bottom and have it well scraped!”

■ In 1626, a Minuit bought Manhattan. He was Peter Minuit, third director general of the Dutch West India Company, and he bought the entire island from the local Indians for trinkets whose worth was the equivalent to $24. Two hundred Dutch settlers soon moved into downtown New Amsterdam – but many thought the whole deal was a waste of time and money, and Minuit was described as “a slippery fellow, whose under painted mask of honesty was a compound of all iniquity and wickedness.”

— from Today’s the Day! By Jeremy Beadle

In Christian history

■ In 1950, during its annual meeting in Boston, the Northern Baptist Convention formally changed its name to the American Baptist Convention. In 1972 the denomination renamed itself the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.

— from This Day in Christian History By William D. Blake

In the Philippines

■ In 1953, the Liberal Party in its national convention held in the Rizal Memorial Stadium, unanimously nominated President Elpidio Quirino for another term following a walkout by recently resigned Ambassador Carlos Romulo, Senator Tomas Cabili, Senator Lorenzo Sumulong, Representative Jose Roy, and others, when a motion that the balloting be secret was lost. Former Speaker Jose Yulo was nominated for the Vice-Presidency over the other contender, Senator Jose Avelino. In as much as President Quirino could serve only two years of the regular four-year term (as no president can serve longer than eight consecutive years under the Constitution), Mr. Yulo would have automatically become President for the other two years if the Liberal Party won the election (Ramon Magsaysay won the Presidency and the Nacionalista Party dominated this election). President Quirino assumed the Presidency after the death of President Roxas in 1948. He was reelected for a full four-year term.

— www.kahimyang.info

In Cebu

■ In 1881, Florentino Borromeo (1881-1965), one of the best Cebu dramatists, was born.

— from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos

We need not abandon our innate sensitivity to beauty simply because we are not trained enough to see the point of its replications. — Art Outside of the Box, The Freeman Lifestyle,

February 20, 2014