Born on the 19th of September, 1911, in Cornwall, William first received education at Marlborough Grammar School, an institution his father ran. William had attempted to write a novel when he was just 12 years old. His childhood was spent as a bully, denouncing his younger self later in life as a brat. He was then educated at Brasenose College in Oxford, studying English even though his father had wishes for science. 

William’s first published work was seen in 1934, a year before he graduated. It was a collection of poems simply entitled ‘Poems’. After his time in education closed, William worked in the theatre for a spell but in 1935 he started to teach English and philosophy at a school in Salisbury, with his experiences teaching young and misbehaving children lending itself as inspiration for ‘Lord of the Flies’. He left teaching in 1940 in order to join the Royal Navy and fight in WWII. He spent six years in the navy, a time in which he cultivated a deep love for the sea but he also saw what humanity was capable of doing. 

In 1954, William had finally published his first novel, ‘Lord of the Flies’. It remains his most acclaimed piece of work and has seen countless adaptations and revivals. Following that, we see similar success in his work ‘Rites of Passage’, ‘Free Fall’, and ‘The Pyramid’. Though he had been successful, he spent the most of his remaining life in private peace with his wife, Ann Brookfield, in Cornwall. He died in 1993 of a heart attack