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Birth
William Golding was born on September 19, 1911, in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England. He was raised in a 14th-century house next door to a graveyard. -
Education
After primary school, William went on to attend Brasenose College at Oxford University. His father hoped he would become a scientist, but William opted to study English literature instead. William graduated college in 1935. -
After College
After college, Golding worked in settlement houses and the theater for a time. Eventually, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. In 1935 Golding took a position teaching English and philosophy at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury. -
Royal Navy
He temporarily left teaching in 1940 to join the Royal Navy. Golding 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. -
Going back to teaching
In 1945, after World War II had ended, Golding went back to teaching and writing. While he was in the Royal Navy, he was inspired to go back to writing. -
Rejection
Even though his first poems were published in 1935, it was more than 20 years before his novels became world famous. By 1954, William had been rejected 21 times. -
Lord of the Flies
In 1954, William finally was able to publish his first and most acclaimed novel, "Lord of the Flies". The novel told the gripping story of a group of adolescent boys stranded on a deserted island after a plane wreck. Lord of the Flies explored the savage side of human nature as the boys, let loose from the constraints of society, brutally turned against one another in the face of an imagined enemy. -
Golding's Life
Golding spent the last few years of his life quietly living with his wife, Ann Brookfield, at their house near Falmouth, Cornwall, where he continued to toil at his writing. The couple had married in 1939 and had two children, David (b. 1940) and Judith (b. 1945). -
Death
William Golding died in 1993 of a heart attack. After Golding died, his completed manuscript for The Double Tongue was published posthumously. -
Legacy
In 1990 a new film version of the Lord of the Flies was released, bringing the book to the attention of a new generation of readers. In 1988 he was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth II. To this day, "Lord of the Flies" is a movie and a book we all still read and watch.