William Golding

By Zoey01

  • HE'S BORN!

    William Golding was born on Sept. 19, 1911 in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England. His mom, Mildred, was an active suffragette who fought for women’s right to vote. His father, Alex, worked as a schoolmaster.

  • "Poems"

    "Poems"
    In 1934, a year before he graduated, William published his first work, a book of poetry aptly entitled Poems. The collection was largely overlooked by critics.
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    Teaching

    Golding worked as a writer, actor, and producer with a small theater in an unfashionable part of London, paying his bills with a job as a social worker. Golding’s experience teaching unruly young boys would later serve as inspiration for his novel Lord of the Flies.
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    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. In 1945, after World War II had ended, Golding went back to teaching and writing.

  • Lord of the Flies

    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. 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.

  • Nobel Prize

    Nobel Prize
    At the age of 73, Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature.

  • Queen Elizabeth ll

    Queen Elizabeth ll
    In 1988,he was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth II.

  • Death

    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. On June 19, 1993, Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall. He was survived by his wife and their two children, David and Judith. After Golding passed away, his completed manuscript for The Double Tongue was published posthumously.