LETTER : BRIEFLY

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l TO COMPLETE Andrew Gumbel's list in "Tosca - out with a bang" (6 August), the famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt should be added. Early this century, while flinging herself off the ramparts in the title role of Tosca, she hurt her leg so badly that it eventually had to be amputated. The stage manager had forgotten to place mattresses where she had to jump - hence the "ill luck".

Gerda Redlich, Manchester