Does the BBC assume we are all as dumbed down as they would portray us?

The BBC's 07:45 piece on the release of the "War Book" by Sanchia Berg contained an interview with David Young who admitted he had made the joke on a Thursday, that saw the war game move to the start of nuclear warm with the phrase "Sic transit gloria Thursday".

Surely those of intelligence and education would have immediately have got the joke, and those who didn't might have been spurred to look it up and so educate themselves. However this is the new dumbed down BBC, so Sanchia Berg felt she had to explain that it was a joke based on the Latin phrase "sic transit gloria mundi" and that that meant "Thus passes the glory of the world".

It is odd that the BBC seem to believe that they have to explain a very well known piece of Latin profundity to Radio 4 listeners but that everyone listening to 5Live knows every intricacy of the offside rule.