1796: Spain declared war on Britain by signing the Treaty of SanIldefonso, aligning with Revolutionary France.

1830: The world's first bathing costume was put on sale in a shop in Baker Street, London.

1908: Bulgaria declared its independence from Turkey.

1917: Sir Arthur Lee donated Chequers to the nation as a country retreat for British prime ministers.

1927: The Labour Party voted to nationalise coal mines at its party conference in Blackpool.

1930: The British airship R101 crashed at the edge of a wood near Beauvais, France, killing 48 of the 54 passengers including Air Minister Lord Thompson.

1936: The March of unemployed shipyard workers - from Jarrow to London - started.

1972: The Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England combined to form the United Reformed Church.

1974: Five people died and 65 were injured when the IRA bombed two pubs in Guildford.

1989: Jim Bakker, disgraced TV evangelist in the United States, was found guilty of fleecing his "flock'' of 158 million dollars.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: An emergency session of the United Nations Security Council was called to discuss an Israeli attack on an alleged militant training camp in Syria.