Holkham Hall, Norfolk, England, is an 18th-century country house built in the Palladian style for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester by the collaborating architects William Kent and Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. It is one of England's finest examples of the Palladian revival style of architecture, the severity of the design being closer to Palladio's ideals than many of the other numerous Palladian style houses of the period. The Holkham estate, formerly known as Neals, had been purchased by Sir Edward Coke, the founder of the family fortune, in 1609. It remains today the ancestral home of the Coke family, Earls of Leicester of Holkham.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holkham_Hall

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1838: In order to avoid anti-Mormon persecution, Joseph Smith, Jr. and his followers fled Ohio for Missouri. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith%2C_Jr.)

1966: Batman the television series, starring Adam West, was first broadcast on ABC. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman)

1969: British rock band Led Zeppelin released their first record album, also called Led Zeppelin. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin)

1970: The self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria capitulated, ending the Nigerian Civil War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biafra)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together." -- Edmund Burke (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke)