As for William Preston, world-renowned Mountie, I of course recognized the name instanter. But that was merely the FIGMENT William Preston.

The REAL William Preston has done so many things it is unbelievable--he was an Irish poet, a Confederate general, a senator, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...the list goes on and on:

William Preston (actor) (1921–1998)
William Preston (Freemason) (1742–1818), Scottish author of Illustrations of Masonry
William Preston (Kentucky) (1816–1887), U.S. politician, ambassador, and Confederate officer
William Preston (poet) (1753–1807), Irish poet
William Preston (Virginia) (1729–1783), Irish-born frontier Virginia leader, signer of the Fincastle Resolutions
William Preston (Royal Navy officer), captain in the British Royal Navy who, along with James Stirling, was responsible for the foundations of Perth and Fremantle in Western Australia
William Preston (UK politician) (1874–1941), Conservative M.P. for Walsall, 1924–1929
William Alfred Preston (1848–1944), MPP in Ontario, Canada
William B. Preston (Mormon) (1830–1908), Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1884–1907
William Ballard Preston (1805–1862), U.S. politician from Virginia
William C. Preston (1794–1860), U.S. senator from the South Carolina
William Campbell Preston (1794–1860), U.S. politician from Pennsylvania and Virginia
William G. Preston, American architect
Billy Preston (1946–2006), American musician