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Holkham Hall is an 18th-century country house in Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester. The hall was designed by the architect William Kent, with contributions from Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, the Norfolk architect and surveyor Matthew Brettingham and Thomas Coke himself. Holkham is one of England's finest examples of the Palladian revival style of architecture. The exterior consists of a central block, of two storeys and four flanking wings. The interior of the hall is opulent, but by the standards of the day, simply decorated and furnished. The Holkham estate was built up by Sir Edward Coke, a lawyer in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I and the founder of his family's fortune. It remains the ancestral home of the Coke family, who became Earls of Leicester. The house is a Grade I listed building, and its park is listed as Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. (Full article...)

Ivan I of Moscow

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Flooding near Hunt, Texas

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July 12

An AH-64 Apache helicopter

• 1913 – Second Balkan War: The Serbian Army began the Siege of Vidin, which they abandoned six days later when an armistice between the Serbs and Bulgarians was signed.
• 1920 – The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty was signed, with Soviet Russia agreeing to recognize an independent Lithuania.

• 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Israel Defense Forces officer Yitzhak Rabin signed an order to expel Palestinians from the towns of Lydda and Ramle.
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• 2007 – Two U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters (pictured) conducted a series of air-to-ground attacks in Baghdad.