Historian says young man wearing a laurel crown 'had to be' the writer

A British magazine has published an image of a figure that it says is the first and only demonstrably authentic portrait of William Shakespeare made in his lifetime.

The picture - of a young, bearded man wearing a Roman-style laurel crown and holding an ear of sweet corn - was identified by botanist and historian Mark Griffiths and was being published in Country Life on Wednesday.