-
William Golding was born in his maternal grandmother's house. He was born. He was born in Newquay, England in the old South West county, Cornwall. -
William's education began at the school his father ran Marlborough Grammar School. When William was just 12 years old, he attempted, but was unsuccessful, to write a novel.
-
William went on to attend Brasenose College at Oxford University. His father hoped he would become a scientist, but William opted to study English literature instead.
-
After college, Golding worked in settlement houses and the theater for a time. Eventually, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.
-
Golding 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.
-
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. While in the Royal Navy, Golding developed a lifelong romance with sailing and the sea. In 1945, after World War II had ended, Golding went back to teaching and writing.
-
After 21 rejections, Golding published his first and most acclaimed novel, Lord of the Flies. Since its publication, the novel has been widely regarded as a classic, worthy of in-depth analysis and discussion in classrooms around the world. Two decades later, at the age of 73, Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature.
-
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. The couple married in 1939 and had two children. On June 19, 1993, Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall.