-
Early life
He was raised in a 14th-century house next door to a graveyard. William received his early education at the school his father ran, Marlborough Grammar School. -
Teaching
In 1935 Golding took a position teaching English and philosophy at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury. Although passionate about teaching from day one, in 1940 Golding temporarily abandoned the profession to join the Royal Navy and fight in World War II. -
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. During World War II, he fought battleships at the sinking of the Bismarck, and also fended off submarines and planes. Lieutenant Golding was even placed in command of a rocket-launching craft. In 1945, after World War II had ended, Golding went back to teaching and writing. -
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. After Golding passed away, his completed manuscript for The Double Tongue was published posthumously. -
Lord of the Flies
In 1954, 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. 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.
