Seeing as I am up now, I might as well take a swing at those who say this picture is not Shakespeare - because you know I know plenty about this stuff. You know I do. Auntie Beeb reports:

Dr Tarnya Cooper, 16th Century curator at the National Portrait Gallery, said: "We believe that Shakespeare left Stratford-upon-Avon following the birth of twins in 1585. One possibility is that he joined a travelling theatre troupe and it is very unlikely that in 1588, Shakespeare would have been able to afford a costume of this type." She said the painting has not been looked at in a systematic way before. "But the painting has fuelled the kind of Shakespeare in Love theories of the 21st Century, of a beautiful young man with a sensitive and passionate face, of a character with an incredible emotional range," she said.

Because you know actors never use costumes and painters always paint the financial truth about their subjects. Look - I know there are a lot of 16th century textile experts among you so I don't want to cause a flame war over this. I'm just saying.