Super Bowl XX was the 20th Super Bowl played. The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome on January 26, 1986. The game was between the 15-1 Chicago Bears of the NFC and the 11-5 New England Patriots of the AFC. The game's national anthem was performed by Wynton Marsalis and the halftime show was played by Up With People. The Bears won their first Super Bowl 46-10, but did not go to the White House because of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. In 2010, the Bears did go to the White House, even though Walter Payton and Dave Duerson did not attend due to their deaths.
The game started badly for the Bears when Walter Payton fumbled the ball and New England got the ball. Kicker Tony Franklin then scored first for the Patriots. Later, the Bears scored when Kevin Butler kicked 2 field goals, and then Matt Suhey scored. In the 2nd quarter, Jim McMahon scored a touchdown, and then Butler kicked another field goal. The Bears then scored 3 touchdowns in the third quarter, and New England would finally score a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan was sacked in the end zone for 2 points.
The Super Bowl MVP of the game was Bears defensive end Richard Dent, who had 1½ sacks—part of the Bears scoring a Super Bowl-high 7 sacks—and 2 forced fumbles.
Nippon Maru
"Nippon Maru" was built in Kobe in 1930. It was a training ship for the cadets of the Japanese merchant marine.
The ship became a museum in 1984.
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps (17 February 1820 - 6 June 1881) was a Belgian composer and violinist.
Vieuxtemps was born in Verviers, Belgium. He received his first violin instruction from his father and a local teacher. He gave his first public performance at the age of six, playing a concerto by Pierre Rode. Soon he was giving concerts in surrounding cities, including Liège and Brussels. He met the violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot in Brussels. He then began to study with Bériot. In 1829, Bériot took him to Paris. He had to return to Belgium the next year because of the July Revolution and Bériot's marriage to his mistress Maria Malibran. Back in Brussels, Vieuxtemps developed his violin technique on his own. He began playing with Pauline Viardot. A tour of Germany in 1833 brought friendship with Louis Spohr and with Robert Schumann. During the following decade he visited various European cities. He impressed audiences and famous musicians such as Hector Berlioz and Paganini.
Vieuxtemps wanted to become a composer as well. He took lessons with the respected Simon Sechter in Vienna and spent the winter of 1835–1836 studying composition with Anton Reicha in Paris. His first violin concerto, later published as Concerto No. 2, dates from this time.
Vieuxtemps continued to compose with great success and perform throughout Europe. He played with the pianist Sigismond Thalberg in the United States. He was particularly admired in Russia. He lived there between 1846 and 1851 as a court musician of Tsar Nicholas I and soloist in the Imperial Theatre. He founded the violin school of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. In 1871, he returned to Belgium to be a Professor at the Brussels Conservatory.
A paralytic stroke disabled his right arm two years later. He moved to Paris again. Although he seemed to be slowly recovering from his stroke, another one in 1879 ended his career as a violinist for good. He spent his last years in a sanatorium in Mustapha Supérieur, Algeria. He continued to compose.
Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe (16 July 1858 – 12 May 1931) was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor. He was born in Liège. He was called "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tzar". His brother was pianist and composer Théo Ysaÿe.
Ysaÿe began violin lessons at age five with his father. At seven he entered the Conservatoire at Liège studying with Désiré Heynberg. When he was twelve, Henri Vieuxtemps took an interest in his talent. He arranged for Ysaÿe to study with Henryk Wieniawski.
After his graduation from the Royal Conservatory of Liège, Ysaÿe was the principal violin of the Benjamin Bilse beer-hall orchestra. This orchestra later became the Berlin Philharmonic. Many musicians of note and influence came regularly to hear this orchestra and Ysaÿe in particular. Some of these musicians were Joseph Joachim, Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Anton Rubinstein. Rubinstein asked for Ysaÿe to be released from his contract to go with him on tour.
When Ysaÿe was twenty-seven years old, he was recommended as a soloist for one of the Concerts Colonne in Paris. This was the start of his great success as a concert artist. The next year, Ysaÿe received a professorship at the Brussels Conservatoire. During his time as professor at the Conservatoire, Ysaÿe continued to tour the world. This included all of Europe, Russia, and the United States.
He had physical problems that affected his hands. As these grew worse, Ysaÿe turned more to teaching, conducting and an early love, composition. In 1918, he accepted the music director's position with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He stayed until 1922.
In 1931, suffering from diabetes, Eugène Ysaÿe died in his house in Brussels.
Ysaÿe was married twice. His first marrriage, on 29 September 1886, was to Louise Bourdeau de Coutrai. They had three sons.
After Louise's death in 1924 he married a pupil of his, Jeanette Dincin. She was 44 years younger than him. Ysaÿe met her in 1922 while conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra. She cared for him in his ailing years.
Eugène Ysaÿe was close friends with Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. He taught her the violin. His widow took over the royal teaching after his death. The queen began a competition in his honor.
Ysaÿe was also a friend of Claude Debussy. They would trade letters.
Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux (21 March 1921–16 October 1986) was a Belgian violinist and pianist.
Grumiaux was born in Villers-Perwin, Belgium. His grandfather urged him to begin music studies at the age of only 4. He trained on violin and piano with the Fernand Quintet at the Charleroi Conservatory. He took first prize at the age of 11. He received his first few major awards before reaching the age of 20. He took the Henry Vieuxtemps and François Prume prizes in 1939, and the Prix de Virtuosité from the Belgian government in 1940. During this time he also studied composition privately in Paris with the famous Romanian violinist George Enescu.
His debut was made in Belgium with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra. Then in Britain with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1945. Following his British debut, he was made professor of violin at the Royal Conservatory, where he had once studied. His playing often brought comparisons to another great Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe and also to Pablo de Sarasate of Spain.
One of his greatest joys in life was his partnership with the pianist Clara Haskil, the Romanian-born Swiss classical pianist. Sometimes the two would switch instruments for a different perspective and relationship. Grumiaux was left with a professional and personal loss when she died from a fall at a train station, on the way to a concert with him.
In 1973 he was knighted baron by King Baudouin for his services to music.
Despite a having diabetes, Grumiaux continued a schedule of recording and concert performances, mostly in Western Europe. He died of a sudden stroke in Brussels in 1986 at the age of 65.
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He is well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century.
He worked as a bandleader, as a sideman, and has been on dozens of movie soundtracks. In 2009 he became NEA Jazz Master, the highest honour for a jazz musician in the United States.