La Jument Lighthouse Coast

As Cornwall is to England so Brittany is to France.

At the very tip of Brittany,

like a defiant finger pointing out at the Atlantic,

this is the district of Finistere.

With a smattering of schoolboy French,

you understand the meaning of the name.

"Fini" is the French word for the end,

and "terre" is earth, so Finistere -

the end of the earth.

This devilish sea has spawned an awful lot of lighthouses.

There was a time when I wanted to be a lighthouse keeper

and people used to say, "What a boring job!" But I beg to differ.

Look at that lighthouse keeper -

what can be boring about a life like that?

This photograph of La Jument lighthouse was taken in 1989.

It became one of the world's most reproduced images

and made a reluctant star out of the man at the eye of the storm.

A lot of people thought he must have died

just a few seconds after the photograph, swamped by that wave,

but he survived and I'm going to find out how.

Apparently, that lighthouse man

has always wanted a signed copy of the photo, so we're taking him one.

I'm hitching a lift with the man who made him famous,

photographer Jean Guichard.

-How are you?

-Very well.

In 1989, Jean set out to capture the end of an era.

La Jument was about to be automated,

as were all the lighthouses on both sides of the Channel.

This was a tough posting, so it was particularly poignant

to capture an image of its keeper for posterity.

On duty that day was Theodore Malgorn.

He now lives on a nearby island,

having never really cashed in on his fame.

I don't think you sign up to be a lighthouse keeper

so you can be famous.

But we've got a photo to deliver -

it's only taken 20 years!

I'm told Bretons are not known

for great displays of emotion.

Magnifique!

'But I think he likes it. Time to try out that schoolboy French.'

Signed and delivered.

Tres bien. Ca va suffire, tres bien.

But I'm curious to know what it feels like

to be possibly the most famous lighthouse keeper in the world.

How does it feel for you, Jean, to have created that image?

You know, I feel to have the lucky photographer

who did a great picture and after that,

this is something which is not really my picture,

the picture of the keeper and the lighthouse story in the world.

Now that way of life is gone.

And now all the keepers have gone from the lighthouse

and that's the end of a... of a story, you know.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd