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Birth
William Golding was born in Cornwall, England, on the 19th of September 1911. His father was a school teacher and a rationalist which heavily influenced William throughout his childhood. -
College
William Golding began attending Brasenose College at Oxford in 1930 studying science. After two years, he decided to study literature instead which is what he truely wanted to do. -
First Poems Published
William Golding's first poems were published in 1934 while still attending Oxford. The collection of poems conveys his distrust in rationalism as well as mocking many rationalists. -
Graduation
William Golding graduated from Brasenose College in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Diploma in education. After that, until 1939, he worked as an actor, writer, producer with a small theatre, and a job as a social worker. -
Family
William Golding got married to Ann Brookfield and had two children. -
Career
In 1939, William Golding began teaching English and philosophy in Salisbury at Bishops Wordsworth's school until 1961where he left the school to write full time. This is excluding five years which William Golding spent with the Royal Navy during World War II. His time in the navy exposed him to all sorts of cruelty that humans practice and wrote "Man produces evil, as bee produces honey". -
Lord of the Flies Published
William Golding wrote the novel "Lord of the Flies" based on his perception of humanity using what he learnt from his time at war combined with his experience with school boys. It was declined by 21 publishers before it was finally published. -
Death
William Golding died on the 19th of June 1993 at 81 years old.