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Birth
William Golding was born on September 19th, 1911, in a Cornish village, and grew up in Newquay. -
Schooling
He began studies in the natural sciences at the University of Oxford but soon abandoned them to instead devote himself to English literature. For several years he worked as a teacher before enlisting in the British Navy in 1940. -
Poems were publishes
William Golding’s status as an author was established when he had his poems published by Macmillan. -
Marriage
His marriage to Anne Brookfield took place in Maidstone. -
First child
David (born September 1940) -
British Navy
In 1940 William Goldings enlisted in the British Navy. He took part in the action that saw the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck and commanded a rocket-launching craft during the invasion of France in 1944. -
Second child
Judith (born July 1945). -
First novel published
William Golding's first novel "Lord of the Flies" was published on September 17th, 1954. -
Nobel Prize award
Golding was finally to receive the appreciation he deserved in 1983 when awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, ‘for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today’. -
When knighthood was received
He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, becoming Sir William Golding. -
Death
William Golding died on June 19th, 1993.