INTO THE SPOTLIGHT / JIM McGOLDRICK : Professor’s Simpson Spots a Hit in Britain : Media: Pepperdine law teacher working in London is a regular on TV with his commentary on the trial.

You’ve seen all the Simpson experts, haven’t you? Wrong. You’ve only seen the American ones.

Here’s the European O.J. authority: a Pepperdine University law professor who, while spending a year at the college’s London campus, inadvertently became a hit with Brits and the Continent by offering his expertise on the trial.

Jim McGoldrick, 51, does five-minute TV spots on Sky News, the CNN of Europe, five or six mornings each week. His station says he has attracted a cult-like following because its audience is intrigued by America’s obsession with the Simpson saga.

“Maybe it’s the human element of it all,” McGoldrick said in a telephone interview. “Maybe it’s the fascination with all things American.”

With his Missouri twang, he gives his take on the latest trial developments, often fielding questions about the intricacies of the case and the way it intersects with American culture.

Several weeks ago, when Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman was on the stand, viewers were perplexed by a bit of the embattled officer’s testimony: Fuhrman mentioned that he had been eating a submarine sandwich while participating in a mock cross-examination with prosecutors. So, a Sky News anchorman asked McGoldrick, what is a submarine sandwich?

And then there was this question concerning Kato Kaelin, one you’re not likely to hear on Court TV: Why would a celebrity like O.J. invite such a person to live at his house?

“The whole idea of Kato Kaelin being a house guest and kind of living there as a sponge, not having gainful employment, was a mystery to them,” McGoldrick said. He offered this explanation to his European audience: “I think that is a mystery to most people in the U.S. as well.”

The British were also perplexed by the fact that the trial is dragging on for so long. (Court proceedings in England usually take about half as long as American trials.) Viewers also wanted to know why the media in America are allowed to report on every aspect of the case--even quoting information from anonymous sources--while in Britain the press can only report what happens in court.

And a man in Bulgaria was curious as to why Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito has so much stuff on his desk.

“I noticed the hourglass item on (Ito’s) desk,” he wrote in a letter faxed from Sofia to the station. “It appears he turns it over when he gets a bit disturbed.”

McGoldrick, who specializes in criminal law procedure, was recruited for the television spots after Sky News decided to increase its Simpson coverage at the start of the trial, a move that boosted the network’s viewership by nearly 1 million, network officials said.

“We did a survey to find an expert on the American legal system,” said Trevor Curtiss, planning editor of Sky News’ sunrise program. “His name came out high on the list and we hired him. He has been a regular performer ever since.”

It’s not always easy keeping up on a trial going on halfway around the world. Some mornings, McGoldrick gets up at 5 a.m. to watch trial coverage he has taped in the middle of the night on the London cable stations.

Among his favorite programs are Larry King on CNN and the Geraldo Rivera show on Britain’s NBC super-channel. But lately, to McGoldrick’s dismay, Rivera is talking less about the case.

“One question that I’m asked a lot is, ‘Are Americans still fascinated by the trial?’ ” McGoldrick said. “We still care about it. But it’s an ominous sign that recently Geraldo has dropped his interest.”

At least for now, though, the Brits are still interested.

Last week, Sky News anchorman Bob Friend asked McGoldrick for a complete update on the testimony of Los Angeles Police Department criminalist Dennis Fung, who had admitted under cross-examination a day earlier that he had changed important elements of his testimony.

“It should have been a bandwagon day for the prosecution,” McGoldrick told him. “The criminalist came on the stand and said there were eight distinct splotches in the Bronco, more blood than anyone had ever imagined.

“Instead, everyone has gotten caught up in the fact that the criminalist revealed . . . he didn’t collect the blood. It was done by what the defense calls a trainee.”

Pretty dry stuff, McGoldrick admits, but it is making him a celebrity--of sorts.

People stop the professor on the street to talk about the case. He is now referred to at professional meetings as the local O.J. expert. And recently, while attending the Winter Ball for Britain’s Conservative Party, he was asked repeatedly about the trial.

“People will say, ‘I saw you on television,’ and they want to talk for a half hour about the case,” he said. “You never know who is going to be an O.J. groupie.”