Born and educated in England, where he met his future wife Catherine King nee Murdoch (q.v.), Alec King was Reader in English at the University of Western Australia and from 1966 Professor of English at Monash University. Apart from a children's book in collaboration with his wife, King published a number of studies on English writers and on general literary and educational issues. He also wrote poems. He was the son-in-law of Walter Murdoch (q.v.) and the father of Francis King (q.v.)