It shows the writer with a book in his hand accompanied by members of his second family.

BBC: NEWS | Entertainment | Tate buys Richardson portrait

But the subject, exhibition organisers say, bears a strong resemblance to a later portrait of Golding Constable, which belongs to Tate, and the book in his hand is also said to closely resemble the Constable family Bible.

BBC: Artist captured parents on canvas

But he chose to be sworn in with his hand on a book of U.S. laws.

CNN: Presidents should not swear in on a Bible

Just thinking about him with a book in one hand and a huge grin on his white-bearded face made me smile.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Between the Tides'

But last year he signed a two-book deal with Twelve, an imprint of Hachette, to write his story and hand in another novel.

WSJ: What Makes Steve Earle Run

Mr Clarke accused his predecessors David Blunkett and John Reid of governing with "a cheque book in one hand and the Daily Mail in the other".

BBC: Clarke: 'Time to get back to more intelligent sentencing'

Mr Inwood, in his book, concedes that for most of its history London has not done too badly without a central guiding hand.

ECONOMIST: London uncovered