THE PURPOSEFUL TOURIST

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Good humor and grace under fire count for a lot in Oxford debates, and Maazel's attack helped Simpson win over the crowd. He stayed cool. He spoke about his time in jail. He said he had discovered new meaning in the Bible and learned from the Book of Job. The questions from the students were probing but not hostile. Simpson responded in droning detail, revealing nothing new. He said he had declined to testify because his legal team believed it would only prolong the proceedings.

Asking clever questions is also part of the Oxford Union tradition. Nick Howard, son of Home Secretary Michael Howard, asked Simpson what sort of reception he thought he would receive from God on Judgment Day. Well, replied Simpson, "I haven't exactly been monogamous." Otherwise, his conscience is clear. "In terms of these murders," he said, "I feel at peace with myself."

In the end the students were satisfied, even charmed, by Simpson. "I went in hostile because of the domestic-violence thing," says student Jane Labous. "But basically he exonerated himself." Which is also what Richard Nixon did in 1978 when he made his first university appearance after his resignation at the Oxford Union. Like Simpson, Nixon said his conscience was clear. And like Simpson, the disgraced President hoped a kind and courteous reception in England would begin to turn the tide of public opinion at home. For Nixon, it worked. In Simpson's case, the jury may be out for a very long time.

--With reporting by Ian Van Every/Oxford