ARTS / And What's More . . .

Is it true that Sir Michael Checkland's first act on being persuaded by Gavin Henderson to become chairman of the Brighton Festival was to ask Henderson to resign as artistic director? Checkland, it has been claimed, believed Henderson could not devote all his energies to the job, having just become principal of Trinity College of Music, London. Not true, says Lianne Jarrett, the Festival's publicist, it was Henderson's own choice: 'Gavin decided that doing both was too much. He always said he would do 10 festivals and now he's actually done 11' . . . Madonna's 40-minute interview with the US chat show host David Letterman turned obscene when the superstar used the F-word 13 times . . . Klaus Maria Brandauer has dropped out of Nic Roeg's Two Deaths, joining a list that includes Isabella Rossellini and Anjelica Huston . . .

'Underrated' will return next week