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Birth
William Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911. His mother, Mildred, was an active feminist who fought for women’s right to vote. His father, Alex, worked as a schoolmaster. -
College/Education
William Golding went to Marlborough Grammar School as a child. Later he attended Brasenose College at Oxford University. -
Teaching
After college, Golding followed in his father’s footsteps and took a position teaching English and philosophy at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury. Golding’s experience teaching unruly young boys would later serve as inspiration for his novel Lord of the Flies. -
Royal Navy
Joined the Royal Navy and spent six years afloat, except for seven months in New York and six months helping Lord Cherwell at the Naval Research Establishment. He finished as Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship. -
Royal Navy (cont.)
During World War II, he fought battleships at the sinking of the Bismarck, and also fended off submarines and planes. Of his World War II experiences, Golding has said, “I began to see what people were capable of doing. Anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.” -
Lord of the Flies
After 21 rejections, Golding published 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. -
Achievements
At the age of 73, Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1988 he was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth II. 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. -
Death
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. Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall.