William Golding

William Golding (1911–1993) was a British writer. He initially studied natural sciences before switching to English literature at Oxford, worked as an English teacher and served as a naval officer during the Second World War. He became internationally known for his novel *Lord of the Flies* (1954), whose manuscript had previously been rejected by several publishers. His work also includes novels, plays, essays and travel writing. Golding received the Booker Prize in 1980 for *Rites of Passage* and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1988.