10 Famous People Who Never Actually Existed

8. William Tell

Switzerland's greatest folk hero is simply that - a fictional character. First mentioned in late 15th-Century chronicles, the precise marksman supposedly assassinated a tyrannical Austrian warlord named Gessler and gave birth to the Swiss Confederation during the 14th Century. The story goes that Tell was so accurate with a crossbow that he shot and split an apple positioned on top of his own son's head in order to gain his own freedom. However, Gessler reneged on his promise to fee the prisoner and had Tell bound and taken on to a ship.

When the ship got caught in a storm on Lake Lucerne though, the soldiers became petrified and unbound Tell, asking him to use his unrivalled strength to steer them to shore. Using the opportunity to escape, Tell jumped ashore at a rocky site that has come to be known as "Tellskapelle". The legend ends with Tell then assassinating Gessler on a stretch of road now known as "Hohle Gasse" - and that this then sparked a rebellion in 1307 which gave birth to modern-day Switzerland.

A great story, but all a load of rubbish unfortunately.