William Tell is a folk hero of which country?

In the centre of the town square, bailiff Gessler, agent of the Hapsburg duke of Austria, placed a Hapsburg hat on a pole and, to the blare of trumpets, announced that all passersby must uncover their heads before it. But William Tell of Uri kept his hat on his head. He was promptly dragged before Gessler, who ordered an apple placed on the head of Tell’s son and told the farmer that if he failed to shoot it off with a single bolt at a distance of 120 paces, both he and the boy would be put to death. Tell paced off the distance, loaded and aimed his crossbow, shot his bolt, and the apple fell. “Your life is now safe,” Gessler said to him, “but kindly tell me why I saw you putting a second bolt inside your jacket?” “If my first had killed my son,” Tell answered, “I would have shot the second at you, and I would not have missed.”

what about shooting the apple off his son's head?

William Tell Sackett was named in his honour.

quicksilver, plus I always thought this story was British.

wileycoyote, yes, he was, I love his overture to "Wilhelm Tell"

Rossini was quite a big fan.

CubicAftermath, I live in Tell City In we have a statue of William Tell in our city park