His best-known play, The One Day of the Year was written in 1958 for an amateur playwriting competition, inspired by an article in the University of Sydney newspaper Honi Soit lambasting Anzac Day.
He also met Craig Reucassel, Andrew Hansen and Julian Morrow at the University of Sydney through the Arts Revenue, Honi Soit and campus politics.
Following from the commercial success of his previous album Honi Soit, John Cale turned his label SPY Records, which had released singles from Marie et les Garçons, Lester Bangs, and Cale himself between 1977 and 1980, over to Michael Zilkha.