Bill Longley (gunfighter) and Nigel Lythgoe

Contents 1 Early life 2 First murders in Texas 3 U.S. Cavalry career 4 Return to Texas and further murders 5 Capture and execution 6 Legend 7 In popular culture 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

Early life

Bill Longley was born on Mill Creek in Austin County, Texas as the sixth of ten children of Campbell and Sarah Longley. His family moved when he was aged two years and was then raised on a farm near Evergreen, Texas, present day Lincoln, Lee County, Texas where he spent a large amount of his childhood learning to shoot. He would receive an average education for the time. He was 6 feet (183 cm) tall with a thin build, jet black hair, and was just reaching adulthood when the American Civil War ended in 1865.

By 1867, Texas was under full military control, with Union forces acting in all capacities including law enforcement, because of the Reconstruction Act. This brought on considerable resentment from the local Texas population. Around this time, Longley dropped out of school and began living a life of wild activities, drinking, and running in the company of other wild youths. First murders in Texas

The Longley family farm, in 1867, was just one mile from the Camino Real, an old Spanish royal highway that joined San Antonio and Nacogdoches, Texas.

In mid-December, 1868, three former slaves named Green Evans, Pryer Evans, and the third known only as Ned, rode through Evergreen, intending evidently to visit friends further south for Christmas. Longley, accompanied by a couple of friends, forced the three men at gunpoint into a dry creek bed. Green Evans panicked and spurred his horse to escape. Longley shot him several times, killing him (although it is likely he was not the only one shooting).

They then began going through the dead man's pockets, as the other two men rode away to escape. Later, although given sole responsibility for the murder, Longley claimed that he was not the only one shooting; Longley's account of this murder differs from that of his later killings, where he was more inclined to brag about shooting men than to try to divert blame to others. Some versions of Green's killing claim he was a member of the Texas State Police; the TSP only existed from 1870 to 1873.

Longley drifted around Texas for a time, gambling in saloons, during which time he met and became acquainted with gambler Phil Coe and possibly also gunman Ben Thompson. Then Longley and his brother-in-law, John Wilson, for reasons unknown, went on a rampage through southern Texas starting in 1869. Together they robbed settlers and in one instance killed another freed slave named Paul Brice in Bastrop County, Texas, after which they stole his horses. They also reportedly killed a freed slave woman in Evergreen.

In March 1870, a $1,000 reward for their capture was offered by the Union military authority. Longley later claimed that Wilson was killed by outlaws in 1870 in Brazos County, Texas, while other evidence lists him as killed in 1874, in Falls County, Texas. Longley left Texas to avoid the authorities. U.S. Cavalry career

Longley moved north, possibly working on a cattle drive. By May 1870, he had joined a gold hunting party in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The gold mining party traveled into the Black Hills of South Dakota, but a treaty with the Sioux prohibited mining, and the party disbanded when intercepted by a U.S. cavalry unit. On June 22, 1870, Longley enlisted for a five-year commitment in the army, joining Company B of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Regiment. His unit was stationed at Camp Stambaugh. Unable to adapt to the strict lifestyle, he deserted two weeks later but was captured and court-martialed. He was sentenced to two years hard labor, strapped to a ball and chain, and imprisoned at Camp Stambaugh. He was held for four months and then released to return to his unit. His marksmanship skills were noticed, and he was assigned on the regular hunting parties leaving the post. He deserted again in May 1872. Return to Texas and further murders

Longley's travels for the rest of 1872 remain mysterious, but by February 1873 he had returned to Texas, where he was accused of murdering another freedman in Bastrop County. He then returned to live with his father's family, which had moved to Bell County. In the summer of that year, Mason County, Texas, Sheriff J. J. Finney arrested Longley for murder and brought him to Austin to collect a reward. However, when the federal military reward was not forthcoming from state officials, Finney released Longley, possibly in exchange for a bribe from Longley's uncle Alexander "Pres" Preston Longley of California.

On March 31, 1875, Longley shot his boyhood friend Wilson Anderson dead with a shotgun. The murder was alleged to have been instigated by Longley's uncle Caleb B. Longley, who had blamed Anderson for the death of his son Cale and urged Longley to take revenge. Longley then fled northward, accompanied by his brother James Stockton Longley, who was later tried and acquitted of Anderson's murder. A new reward was posted for Longley's capture.

Under increasing pressure from law enforcement, Longley fled from place to place and used several aliases to avoid arrest. He briefly found work on a cotton farm, but he was forced to run again in November 1875, after murdering a hunting buddy named George Thomas with whom he had had a fistfight.

Longley committed another killing in Uvalde County in January 1876, when his attempted ambush of fellow outlaw Lou Shroyer turned into a gunfight. Shroyer shot Longley's horse from under him, but Longley shot Shroyer dead. This is the only known case in Longley's career where one of his victims returned fire.

Fleeing again, Longley went to east Texas and became a sharecropper of a preacher, William R. Lay. Stability eluded him again, however, when Longley became rivals with Lay's nephew for the affections of a young woman. Longley beat his rival up, was subsequently jailed, and escaped. Longley blamed Lay for his brief imprisonment. On June 13, 1876, Longley rode out to his landlord's farm, found him milking a cow, and murdered him with a shotgun. Lay would be the last man known to be killed by Longley.

Longley then possibly went to Grayson County, where two of his friends, Jim and Dick Sanders, were in jail. Longley broke them out, and the trio escaped, disarming deputy Matt Shelton when he tried to arrest them. Approximately one year later, deputy Matt Shelton confirmed this encounter. Longley then fled to Louisiana. Capture and execution Grave site of Bill Longley in Giddings City Cemetery

On June 6, 1877, Longley was surrounded and arrested without incident by Nacogdoches County Sheriff Milt Mast and two deputies, while he was residing in De Soto Parish, Louisiana, under the alias "Bill Jackson". He was returned to Texas, tried in the Lee County Court, and sentenced to hang for the murder of Wilson Anderson. His appeal was denied in March 1878.

On October 11, 1878, Longley was executed by hanging in Giddings, Texas, only a few miles from his birthplace of Evergreen. His grave and a state historical marker are in Giddings City Cemetery.

He claimed to have killed thirty-two people, mostly of Hispanic and African American heritage. Although often referred to as a "gunfighter", most of Longley's victims were unarmed, and he killed several in the course of committing a robbery. Legend

Years after the execution, Longley's father, Campbell, came forward in a press release stating that his son had not been executed. He claimed that a wealthy relative in California bribed the lawmen with $4,000, prompting them to rig a trick rope. They then staged the hanging and whisked the body away. The family even came up with alleged letters said to have been written by Longley from California. The legend spread, and many believed it for quite some time.

It prompted many historians to investigate. Finally, after confirming the gravesite of Longley, an exhumation of the human remains was performed. They were taken to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D. C., where DNA tests were performed, along with a skull reconstruction. In June 2001, it was officially reported that the remains from the gravesite were indeed those of Bill Longley. One datum in support of this conclusion was that the grave contained a Catholic medallion (The Miraculous Medal, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary) that Longley was reported as wearing on the day he was hanged (Longley had converted to Catholicism shortly before his death, as reported by an episode of Scientific American Frontiers entitled "Dead Men's Tales").

Numerous myths and legends have grown up about Longley that cannot be verified by any contemporary source. Many of these legends trace back to tall tales that Longley himself told while imprisoned in Giddings in 1877. Some of these stories are provably false, while others could be true but lack any contemporary corroborating evidence. Longley's lies appear to have been motivated partly by his desire to rival John Wesley Hardin's reputation as a killer. Ironically Longley was outraged -when because of his reputation as a killer-he found he was sentenced to death while Hardin was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.

The most clearly false story Longley told was of being captured and lynched in 1869 alongside one of Cullen Baker's outlaw gang, surviving when a lucky shot severed the rope he had been hanged from, and then joining Baker's riders. As Baker was dead and his band dispersed at the time Longley claimed this happened, the story cannot be true.

The common stories that Longley murdered a black militiaman in Evergreen in 1866 for insulting his father Campbell, and that he shot eight blacks in Lexington in 1867 to avenge the loss of a horse racing bet, are not definitively disproven. However, there is no contemporary evidence for either event;

Nigel Lythgoe and Bill Longley (gunfighter)

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Awards and honours 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Born on the Wirral, Merseyside, to dockworker George Percival Lythgoe and Gertrude Emily Lythgoe, he became interested in dance at the age of 10. He began tap dancing, and went on to study at the Hylton-Bromley School of Dance and Drama and the Perry Cowell School of Dance, both in Wallasey, Merseyside where he studied classical ballet, modern jazz, ballroom, character, classical Greek and National dance from various countries. Lythgoe's first professional job was in the Corps de Ballet for the National tour of "The Merry Widow." He trained in London under Joanne Steuer and Molly Molloy. Beginning in 1969, Lythgoe performed with the BBC's "Young Generation" dance troupe. He became their choreographer in 1971 and has since choreographed over 500 television shows. Career Lythgoe in 1976, with dance group

Early in Lythgoe's career, he learned to use techniques (e.g. multi-cameras) to film choreography well, a skill that would lead to a TV career. During the 1970s and into the 1980s, Lythgoe had the opportunity to perform with dancers from Cyd Charisse to Gene Kelly. He also choreographed for Ben Vereen, Shirley Bassey and (most famously) the Muppets. Lythgoe, in an interview with People said that he was "the only person to dance, choreograph, produce and direct the Royal Variety Performance."

After working his way through the television industry, including at TVS, by 1995, Lythgoe held the post of Head of Entertainment and Comedy at London Weekend Television, where he commissioned and produced shows including Gladiators and Blind Date.

In 2000, he became the tough judge on Popstars and was nicknamed "Nasty Nigel" by the British tabloid press. He was loaned by London Weekend Television to Bob Geldof's television company Planet 24 to executive produce and direct the UK version of Survivor. Lythgoe then joined Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment group as President of 19 Television. He developed and produced a new show created by Fuller, Pop Idol. This then became a global franchise that includes American Idol.

Lythgoe moved to the U.S. in 2002 to produce American Idol and then became producer/judge and co-creator of So You Think You Can Dance on the FOX television network.

Lythgoe, and his production partner Ken Warwick, who went to school together from age 12, initially agreed to produce the 2007 Emmys, but could not due to scheduling conflicts with SYTYCD.

In 2007, Lythgoe worked with a number of prominent California-based Brits, including then-British Consul-General Bob Peirce, to found BritWeek, an annual program of events held in Los Angeles and Orange County to celebrate the strong business, historical, and entertainment ties between the UK and California.

On 4 August 2008, Lythgoe confirmed that he was leaving American Idol and decided to move on with So You Think You Can Dance.

In 2009, Lythgoe and Fuller formed a company called Big Red 2 Entertainment. Fuller is a fan of Manchester United and Lythgoe of Liverpool. Both teams play in red. Their first venture was Superstars of Dance for NBC.

He is also a judge on So You Think You Can Dance (UK).

On 5 August 2010, American Idol confirmed Lythgoe would be returning as an executive producer to the hit show beginning season 10. Personal life

Lythgoe married Bonita Shawe in 1974, whom he met while he was choreographer for the BBC's Young Generation dance troupe. Shawe was also an audition judge on the first season of So You Think You Can Dance and was a judge on the Australian version of So You Think You Can Dance for the first three seasons. The couple divorced in 2007 and have two sons together, Simon and Kristopher and four grandchildren Kyan, Tighe, Dominie and George.

He suffered a heart attack in January 2003. He gave up his 60-a-day cigarette habit as a result. He nearly died from a burst appendix in October 2003.

He owns a vineyard in Paso Robles, California. Filmography Awards and honours 2014 Ellis Island International Medal of Honor 2011 International Emmy: Founders Award - Winner 2008 Emmy: Outstanding Reality/Competition Program - Nominee 2007 The Governors Award - Winner 2007 Emmy: Outstanding Reality/Competition Program - Nominee 2006 Emmy: Outstanding Reality/Competition Program - Nominee 2005 Emmy: Outstanding Reality/Competition Program - Nominee 2004 Emmy: Outstanding Reality/Competition Program - Nominee 2003 Grammy: Album of the Year - Nominee
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