My life has so far spanned seven different decades, but I still don’t have answers to some of life’s toughest questions.

And I am not even close when it comes to solving the biggest mystery of all - why people who have no general knowledge are so keen to go on general knowledge quizzes on the telly. Yes, I’m pointing at you, Tipping Point contestants.

I have a mild addiction to the programme because that infernal machine gives me happy memories of mis-spent holidays in the amusement arcades of Great Yarmouth.

But the more I watch it, the more I am baffled by what drives some people to go on there. I know what you are thinking - the £3,000 the winner is almost guaranteed to take home is a pretty good motive.

But that seems a small amount in return for making yourself look a plonker on national television. Last week I watched in disbelief as a young lady called Lyn, who was the eventual winner, was asked which Roman numeral comes first alphabetically.

Either through an ignorance of Roman numerals or the alphabet, she offered the answer X.

“And what would you have said, Neil?” asked the (brilliant) host, Ben Shephard.

“I was going to say L.”

Then the same two contestants were asked which Apollo mission failed to land on the moon, with the big hint that the number was between 11 and 17.

“I seem to remember a film called Apollo 15,” said Lyn.

“Is it Apollo 11?” said Neil, even though he was not only old enough to remember the film, but also when Apollo 13 was on the news. It’s hardly rocket science.

Yet even they looked like brainboxes compared with the contestant who, earlier this year, was asked to name an American state that both starts and ends with A.

His answer? Florida.

These were not errors from flustered contestants under the pressure of lights and a ticking clock, like The Chase. It was the round where they have ages to think about it.

Every day contestants make basic errors, like releasing the counters at the wrong time, or not understanding that buzzing in and wildly guessing, in the first round, is a disaster when all you have to do is wait for easy questions you actually know the answers to.

Maybe they should try Mastermind instead, where the BBC’s dumbing-down policy has decreed that half the questions must be far easier than they used to be.

Does it really take a ‘Mastermind’ to know what the Japanese flag looks like?

You might think that TV companies are struggling to find enough clever people to put on their quizzes these days, although it isn’t a problem on University Challenge, Only Connect or Countdown.

But the amazing dimness of some people in this country isn’t the issue here.

It’s their new-found ability to be completely unembarrassed by it.

And Tipping Point is the tip of the iceberg compared with the ignorance being broadcast on social media.