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Childhood
William was born in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England and was raised next to a grave yard. His mother was a supporter of the British suffragette movement who fought womens right to vote and his father was a school teacher and an advocate of rationalism. When he was 12 years old he wrote and unsuccessful novel. William enjoyed hurting people, he was a bully. -
Education
William Golding attended Brasenose college at Oxford University to study science then later switched to English literature. A volume of Golding's poems was published as part of Macmillan's Contemporary Poets series. Five years later he graduated from Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a diploma in education. He published his first work of poetry called Poems. -
Career
William Golding Golding took a position teaching English and philosophy at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury. He also married Ann Brookfield and had 2 children. Golding’s experience teaching unruly young boys would later serve as inspiration for his novel Lord of the Flies. -
Royal Navy
Although passionate about teaching from day one, in 1940 Golding temporarily abandoned the profession to join the Royal Navy and fight in WWII. He spent the better part of the next six years on a boat, except for a seven-month stint in New York, where he assisted Lord Cherwell at the Naval Research Establishment. While in the Royal Navy, Golding developed a lifelong romance with sailing and the sea. During World War II, he fought battleships at the sinking of the Bismarck. -
Continuing his career
After WWII ended Golding went back to teaching and writing. He wrote about his wartime experiences, how the content frequently comes back to the problem of evil, the conflict between reason's civilizing influence, and mankind's innate desire for domination. -
Lord of the Flies
After 21 rejections, Golding published his first and most acclaimed novel, Lord of the Flies. The book set the tone for Golding’s future work, in which he continued to examine man’s internal struggle between good and evil. -
Film
Year after Golding retired from teaching, Peter Brook made a film adaptation of Lord of the Flies. -
RIP William Golding
Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall. He was survived by his wife and their two children, David and Judith. After Golding passed away, his completed manuscript for The Double Tongue was published posthumously.
