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Birth
William Gerald Golding was born in Cornwall -
Schooling
Golding went to Marlborough Grammar School, where his father Alec was the science teacher. -
Losts happening
The Brass Butterfly, his play starring Alistair Sim and adapted from his story 'Envoy Extraordinary’, opened in Oxford on 24 February, toured the provinces, and then ran for a month in London. The text of the play was published in July. In autumn the Goldings moved back to the village of Bowerchalke. In November, Golding’s father Alec was diagnosed with cancer, and following an operation to remove the cancer he died suddenly of a heart attack in hospital on 12 December. -
Schooling(College)
Golding went to Brasenose College, Oxford, to read Natural Sciences. -
College life change
He changed to English Literature as a major in college. -
Poetry Award
Golding gained a second-class degree in June of this year. In the autumn, Macmillan published his Poems. -
HARD LABOR
For a short period of time he worked at a settlement house and in theatre companies, exploring himself as an actor and a writer and eventually started to teach English and philosophy at Bishop’s Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury. -
Teaching
In the autumn he became a teacher at Michael Hall, a Steiner school then in Streatham, South London, staying there two years. -
Back to the books
In the autumn Golding went back to Oxford to study for a Dip.Ed. -
True love
In January he started his teaching practice at Bishop Wordsworth’s School, Salisbury, and in June of that year passed his exams. In September, he took a post at Maidstone Grammar School. He met Ann Brookfield, and they fell in love. -
For ever bound
In September, a few weeks after the declaration of war, they were married in Maidstone Registry Office. -
Child
In April, Golding took up a post at Bishop Wordsworth’s School, and he and his wife moved into a cottage in the Wiltshire village of Bowerchalke. In September, the Goldings’ first child, David, was born. In December Golding left Bishop Wordsworth to join the navy. -
HMS Galatea
Golding’s first active service was in HMS Galatea in the North Atlantic. He then went to Liverpool where he spent many hours on guard duty in the Gladstone Dock. In the spring of 1942 he was seconded to MD1, a weapons research unit then in Buckinghamshire. However, in early 1943 he returned to sea at his own request, and soon after was sent to New York to help bring minesweepers back to the UK after they had been built in the New Jersey dockyards. Later he was trained in Landing Crafts equipped -
Second Child And Navy
In July the Goldings’ second and last child, Judith Diana, was born. In September Golding left the navy and returned to Bishop Wordsworth’s School. -
Moving
The Goldings moved to Salisbury. -
New book
He began work on a novel he called ‘Strangers from Within’. -
Try Try Again
In January he started sending the novel to publishers. Many rejected it, until in September Golding sent it to Faber and Faber, where it was eventually accepted. -
Changing Name
In September, after changes to the text, it was published as Lord of the Flies -
Getting a Voice
By now Golding had some involvement with literary life in London. He started writing for The Bookman and The Listener, and began broadcasting -
Sad ending
In January Golding began work on a new novel. However, early on the morning of 19 June he died of heart failure. Five days later, on Midsummer’s Day, he was buried in the churchyard at Bowerchalke. -
Sad wife death
Ann Golding died on New Year’s Day, eighteen months after her husband, and was buried beside him in the graveyard at Bowerchalke. In June Golding’s last novel, The Double Tongue, was published.
