How teaching inspired Lord of the Flies author

The author of Lord of the Flies has been celebrated at the school he taught at, as a new adaption of the novel is released.

William Golding was the head of English at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, Wiltshire, when he wrote the classic in 1954.

The book tells the story of a group of boys who descend into anarchy after finding themselves stranded on an island after a plane crash with no adults to guide them.

"Allegedly, he took his inspiration from watching the behaviour of boys in his class," said former pupil Mick Way, now 85, who was taught by Golding at the time.

"He was known as Old Scruff, because his hair and beard was a bit unkempt," Way said.

Golding went on to write 12 more books and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983, but Lord of The Flies was his most successful work.

Bishop Wordsworth's current head of English, Rachel Sammons teaches the book in her year 11 class.

"What Golding is suggesting is that even though we try to enforce a level of society, it ultimately breaks down. In terms of it still being a GCSE text all these years later, I think it's really important," said Sammons.

More than 70 years on, the book remains a hit in Sammons' class.

"It makes me feel proud to come to this school," said one pupil, Sam.

"It's like a bit of heritage that we own and it establishes our reputation."

The BBC's four-part adaptation of the book - the first ever made specifically for television - is currently being shown weekly on BBC One from 21:00 GMT, with the series also available on iPlayer.