0:00:25 > 0:00:29As Cornwall is to England so Brittany is to France.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32At the very tip of Brittany,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35like a defiant finger pointing out at the Atlantic,
0:00:35 > 0:00:39this is the district of Finistere.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42With a smattering of schoolboy French,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45you understand the meaning of the name.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48"Fini" is the French word for the end,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52and "terre" is earth, so Finistere -
0:00:52 > 0:00:55the end of the earth.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00This devilish sea has spawned an awful lot of lighthouses.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14There was a time when I wanted to be a lighthouse keeper
0:01:14 > 0:01:19and people used to say, "What a boring job!" But I beg to differ.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Look at that lighthouse keeper -
0:01:22 > 0:01:24what can be boring about a life like that?
0:01:24 > 0:01:29This photograph of La Jument lighthouse was taken in 1989.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33It became one of the world's most reproduced images
0:01:33 > 0:01:37and made a reluctant star out of the man at the eye of the storm.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42A lot of people thought he must have died
0:01:42 > 0:01:46just a few seconds after the photograph, swamped by that wave,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49but he survived and I'm going to find out how.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Apparently, that lighthouse man
0:01:51 > 0:01:55has always wanted a signed copy of the photo, so we're taking him one.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59I'm hitching a lift with the man who made him famous,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02photographer Jean Guichard.
0:02:02 > 0:02:03- How are you?- Very well.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12In 1989, Jean set out to capture the end of an era.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16La Jument was about to be automated,
0:02:16 > 0:02:20as were all the lighthouses on both sides of the Channel.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27This was a tough posting, so it was particularly poignant
0:02:27 > 0:02:30to capture an image of its keeper for posterity.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42On duty that day was Theodore Malgorn.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44He now lives on a nearby island,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47having never really cashed in on his fame.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I don't think you sign up to be a lighthouse keeper
0:02:51 > 0:02:54so you can be famous.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57But we've got a photo to deliver -
0:02:57 > 0:03:00it's only taken 20 years!
0:03:02 > 0:03:05I'm told Bretons are not known
0:03:05 > 0:03:08for great displays of emotion.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09Magnifique!
0:03:11 > 0:03:15'But I think he likes it. Time to try out that schoolboy French.'
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Signed and delivered.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Tres bien. Ca va suffire, tres bien.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46But I'm curious to know what it feels like
0:03:46 > 0:03:49to be possibly the most famous lighthouse keeper in the world.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00How does it feel for you, Jean, to have created that image?
0:04:00 > 0:04:04You know, I feel to have the lucky photographer
0:04:04 > 0:04:07who did a great picture and after that,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11this is something which is not really my picture,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14the picture of the keeper and the lighthouse story in the world.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15Now that way of life is gone.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19And now all the keepers have gone from the lighthouse
0:04:19 > 0:04:24and that's the end of a... of a story, you know.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd