RAHS Day Lecture – Saffron Incorporated: The first King of the Cross

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 1 April 2026 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000 (hybrid)

Cost: Free

Event Description:

Wherever you find entertainers performing in neon-lit pubs and clubs, chances are you will find a wannabe gangster or two hanging around. Selling sex and drugs has always been a way to make a fast buck. Abe Saffron figured all this out very quickly. He was a chancer who kickstarted his criminal career SP bookmaking and receiving stolen goods. While he earned himself a quid or two, he wanted much more, and he was ruthless enough to seize any moment to get it … no matter what he had to do. In this lecture, Stuart Coupe shows how showbusiness and the underworld are intrinsically linked, and how the original King of the Cross lay the foundations for more than fifty years of intrigue, murder and mayhem.

About the speaker:

Stuart Coupe is an author, music commentator, independent artist publicist and radio broadcaster who has been involved with music all his life. Amongst the books he has written, edited or collaborated on are The New Music (1980), The New Rock ‘n’ Roll (1983), The Promoters (2003), Gudinski (2015), Tex (2017), Roadies (2018) and Paul Kelly, the Man, the Music and the Life In Between (2021), which was shortlisted for Biography Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards.