When I joined BWS in 1950 I soon learned to recognise the familiar bearded figure known universally as 'Scruff'.
In my first two years I did not meet Mr Golding in the classroom. I saw him around the school, in the chapel and in the orchestra, and he also assisted Mr Milne in running the Combined Cadet Force; I have seen him testing cadets for proficiency in Morse. Seated at his desk with his Morse buzzer he seemed the epitome of the grizzled sea-farer.
In the Lower Sixth, our Philosophy teachers included Mr Golding who talked to us about such abstract topics as Meditation and the Philosophy of Science. I was always impressed by his scholarly approach to these subjects.
Apart from Philosophy, we scientists had to follow a course in Cultural English; it was here that I really got to know Mr Golding. In the rooms next to the road at No. 11, The Close, in small classes we were brought face to face with the glories of English Literature. Much of the time was taken by Mr Golding talking about his favourite authors and reading extracts from their works. We must have heard many authors but I only remember a few specific examples including Steele and Addison. One thing which made a huge impact was a reading of the last chapters of Captain Scott's diaries.
In 1954 Lord of the Flies was published and we had extracts from that, but the event which excited Mr Golding most was the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Ernest Hemingway. He delighted in reading extracts from this author's works and the Nobel Prize gave him the opportunity to read The Old Man and the Sea to us. It was an unforgettable experience to hear this modern story of an ancient mariner battling with the sea and his catch. In fact, in my mind's eye, the grizzled, bearded Mr Golding became the embodiment of The Old Man and the Sea.
I was very privileged to learn the joys of literature from this man and the other teachers at BWS. I was lucky to hear him at the height of his powers. Little did I think that his excitement at Hemingway's Nobel Prize would one day be matched by my own at hearing that the latest Nobel Laureate was William Golding.
At the Medieval Hall last year I heard him present 'With Great Pleasure'. I was surprised and pleased to find that his voice had lost little of its power despite his age. I was lucky enough to talk to him after the show and naturally was saddened to hear of his death not so very long afterwards. However, I count myself extremely lucky to have been inspired by such a teacher.
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