When a recent edition of University Challenge used the term CE (Common Era) rather than AD (Anno Domini, “In the Year of the Lord”), it sent the Daily Mail into a froth. The paper attacked secular BBC “zealotry” and quoted former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe complaining CE was “complete nonsense”.

While Jews have long used CE and BCE (Before Common Era) rather than BC (Before Christ), they have become more widespread. A BBC spokesman said it regularly used AD and BC and “will continue to do so”. But a few years ago the classical scholar, and TV presenter, Mary Beard, wrote that some of its departments had suggested BCE and CE might sometimes be more appropriate for a multifaith audience.

The mini-series by the way, which featured celebrity alumni, was won by a team of old boys from Peterhouse College, Cambridge, who included the former Conservative leader Lord Howard and Sacha Baron Cohen’s production partner, Dan Mazer.