NOBEL Prize-winning author Sir William Golding died at his home in

Cornwall at the weekend. He was 81.

He had been at a party held in his honour on Friday night and died

early on Saturday.

Mr Matthew Evans, chairman of Sir William's publisher Faber and Faber,

said: ''He was found to be dead in the morning, probably of a heart

attack.''

For a man who once said his biggest affliction was ''the inability to

write poetry'', Golding made a tremendous contribution to literature.

Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1983, he is perhaps best known for his

stunning debut novel, Lord of the Flies.

Although he wrote many outstanding works later, many people know him

for this chilling tale, having read it at school.

The book did not have an easy passage into print and Golding suffered

a string of rejections before it was spotted by a junior editor at

Faber. After some changes, it was finally published in 1954 -- and was

an overnight sensation.

In many respects a darkly pessimistic answer to the classic The Coral

Island, it followed the lives of a party of schoolboys who crash land

and told of their rapid plunge into cruelty. It was filmed twice, in

1963 and 1990.

Born in Cornwall in 1911, Golding -- son of a vicar -- returned to his

isolated roots towards the end of his life.

His grandfather was a Quaker, and his father, who later became an

atheist, taught science at Marlborough School.

Golding studied to be a scientist at Brasenose College, Oxford, but

later changed to read English. After university he served as a

lieutenant in the Royal Navy, beginning a long association with the sea.

Then came years as a writer, actor and producer with small theatrical

companies before publication of his first novel.

He was an accomplished cello and oboe player and at one time he wanted

to be a concert pianist.

After Lord of the Flies, he wrote six novels -- including The

Inheritors, Pincher Martin and Free Fall -- but they failed to attract

the same level of enthusiasm from the public.

But then he produced Rites of Passage, published in 1990, which won

him the Booker Prize and brought him back to the forefront of British

literature.

He is survived by his wife Anne.