Bethlehem? What's that?

Nearly a third of Britons don't know Jesus was born in Bethlehem, according to a poll.

I apply my normal scepticism to polls and wonder how that could have come about. The newspaper clip includes a quote from a Free Presbyterian Church spokesman "It's despicable." I assume that he is appalled at the ungodliness of a nation that has largely rejected the hypocrisies and hatreds of organised religion.

But surely there is a level of General Knowledge that most people possess. I am thinking of a range of people I know who are ill-educated, and not necessarily focused on the knowledge society. But I am absolutely positive that they know stuff like that.

A poll by Sky Box Office - perhaps it's made up by The Sun to act as advertising for another arm of Murdochia.

What do they mean by nearly a third? That could mean less than ten per cent. I accept that there are people who lack the capacity to understand or participate in such a poll, but they wouldn't have been able to give a 'wrong' answer.

Sometimes I am amazed by the lack of General Knowledge displayed by highly intelligent, educated qualified and articulate people - some immediate colleagues spring to mind. But I'm sure even they know stuff like that.

Perhaps I haven't recovered from nine years working in an environment where it was a badge of honour to know stuff.

But I guess if people who are 'paid and trained to be nosy' don't know stuff, it's hardly surprising that others don't.

But I don't understand it. My immediate and extended family 'know stuff'. Most of my friends - as opposed to colleagues - 'know stuff'. One of the friends from University was regarded as an oddity partly because she didn't 'know stuff'.

But I would have thought that there was a body of knowledge that most people (excepting those with the incapacity to learn) know eg where Jesus was born; what benefits one may be entitled to; when the Second World War took place; who the Prime Minister is; basic function of the kidneys; that the speed limit is generally 30 in built-up areas. Stuff like that. Not even the obscurantist stuff that crops up in pub quizzes. I'm not even talking the tricky stuff like which pop group originally sang 'Yesterday' or who is the England football captain, or what the pancreas does or who the Chancellor of the Exchequer is.

I'm not saying that I know everything, and I have some very distinct weaknesses, but I cannot understand how people can be so cut-off from the world in which they live that they don't know stuff that every school child ought to know.

Maybe that's my blind spot. Because one of my greatest skills - perhaps my greatest skill - is my ability to absorb, retain, and regurgitate trivia, I can only barely recognise that most people are not as good at it as me. So I singularly fail to understand people who are bad at it.