0:06:50 > 0:06:57.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32It's an enduring image of the French -
0:07:32 > 0:07:35bicycle riding, stripy-topped.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37All I need now is a string of onions!
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Like a lot of people, I assumed this image was a myth.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48But there may be something in it, just look at this photograph.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52It was taken in the 1950s and it shows onion sellers
0:07:52 > 0:07:55from this part of Brittany. They look every inch,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57or rather centimetre, the Frenchman.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00I'm in search of what are known as the "Onion Johnnies".
0:08:00 > 0:08:05I'm told there's a new generation of "Johnnies". I'm going to meet one.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09If I'm looking for the classic image of a Frenchman,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Emmanuel Le Noac'h doesn't disappoint.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14- Hello, Emmanuel. - Hello.- A great pleasure to meet you.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19- Good afternoon. - You're already stringing onions. - Yeah, yeah, I'm starting my season.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Can you tell me what an Onion Johnnie is?
0:08:22 > 0:08:27It's only a onion seller who goes to England,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and me particularly I'm going to London, but we really started
0:08:31 > 0:08:36in Wales because of the language, because the Breton language
0:08:36 > 0:08:39is nearly the same as the Welsh one.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43- Celtic language.- As Celtic. - You're putting these onto the string
0:08:43 > 0:08:45because this is how you have to show your...
0:08:45 > 0:08:49It's not really to show, it's to keep it all the winter.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51So you take your raffia,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55you tie there with the neck, the air can't go through.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58You can keep it 10-12 months.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59So this is organic preservation?
0:08:59 > 0:09:03It's organic preservation, exactly, yeah.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Now do tell me, because some of these onion sellers
0:09:05 > 0:09:08in the 1950s photograph are wearing berets.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12How important is it to have an onion seller's costume to look French?
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Yeah, it's like a costume, it's a bit like a business thing,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19so with the beret against the rain is very good.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23During the winter, I know they used to put newspaper in it.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26- Keep your head warm. - Yes, but normally
0:09:26 > 0:09:29you wear it like that, on one side.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Have you ever worn a stripy...?
0:09:31 > 0:09:35I haven't got, but all the English people ask me where is my striped T-shirt!
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Onion Johnnies have been coming to Britain for nearly 200 years,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45sort of informal ambassadors,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47toting a taste of France door to door.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54It began in the 1820s as a bit of market research.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Local farmers crossed the Channel to see if the British
0:09:58 > 0:10:00had an appetite for Roscoff onions.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05We liked them so much, they've been coming back ever since.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14In their heyday, around 1,500 Onion Johnnies left their loved ones
0:10:14 > 0:10:18behind at the end of each summer to spend up to six months in Britain.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Straight from Brittany, madame, feel the weight.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Roscoff is proud of its cross-Channel connections
0:10:27 > 0:10:29and its onion-growing tradition.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34At the local museum, the Maison des Johnnies,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37they organise regular tastings,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40with lashings of local cider of course.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46I'm surprised to find that the guests here are all French,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49as curious as I am about the Onion Johnnies.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53If you go to Rennes, it's not far, it's only 200km from here,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57people don't know the onion men, none at all.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01We're more well known in Birmingham than in Rennes!
0:11:02 > 0:11:06The guest of honour tonight is former onion seller Pierre.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09- So this is you here.- That's me.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Was it necessary to wear an onion seller's uniform?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16You should wear a beret, you always have a beret to do
0:11:16 > 0:11:19door to door Frenchie.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34It seems that from one small place in Brittany
0:11:34 > 0:11:37we created our stereotype of the French nation.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41From Exeter to Glasgow, from Swansea to Newcastle,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44they zigzag across Great Britain
0:11:44 > 0:11:47with a little piece of France on a string.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50It's certainly a romantic image, but what about the realities of life
0:11:50 > 0:11:55on the road, away from your family for a large part of the year?
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Sans glace, ni rien...
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Olivier Seite and his wife Anne must have seen more tears than most.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Hello, very nice to meet you.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08They were in the onion business for more than 40 years.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Olivier started selling at 14 with his dad,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14and here he is in the 1960s.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18- Want some onions?- Yes, we'll buy some, please, how much are they?
0:12:18 > 0:12:21- Same price, four and six a bunch. - How do you manage the English language?
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Well, I know enough to sell my onions.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27You don't find the Geordie accent baffling?
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Oh, a little, but I'm used to it.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34We travelled by boat, but after we were in England
0:12:34 > 0:12:39we stayed six months and we find a place to storage the onions.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41I mean, Olivier had a very hard life before,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44they used to sleep on the onions with a sail cloth on over them.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Now, Anne, you're not speaking with a very French accent,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51- you sound as if you come from the north of England.- Ah, yes, well...
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Raised in Newcastle upon Tyne.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Two bunches, please.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58For most Onion Johnnies, their job took them away
0:12:58 > 0:13:02from their nearest and dearest, but for Olivier it led him to his.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06He met and fell in love with Anne while on a night out in Newcastle.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09You fell for a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy to dance.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14- Oh, I did, I did!- Did you know that your dancer was an onion seller?
0:13:14 > 0:13:17I did not. I thought it was a myth - French onion men.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21All my friends in the office, I said, "I've just met this French onion man
0:13:21 > 0:13:25"and I think this is the one," and they said, "A French onion man!
0:13:25 > 0:13:29"Oh, trust you!" Cos I've always been different.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33What's the most important quality an onion seller needs?
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Persistence.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Just what is it about those onions that made it worth the Johnnies
0:13:43 > 0:13:48travelling such eye-watering distances, some as far as Shetland?
0:13:48 > 0:13:51And why would Brits prefer them to home-grown varieties?
0:13:52 > 0:13:55On his farm overlooking Roscoff harbour,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58I'm hoping veteran Onion Johnnie Andre Quemener can tell me.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Or better still show me.
0:14:04 > 0:14:05See.
0:14:05 > 0:14:06Are they good raw?
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Yes, see.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13- Very sweet.- Yes, it's sweet.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16They are delicious. They're not bitter or sharp.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18No, no.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21- You can eat them like an apple.- Yes.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25What is special about the soil? I mean, it's very fine and rich.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Oh, yes, a lot of seaweed on it.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30- You put seaweed on it? - Yes, every year.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33- And does the seaweed fertilise the soil?- Yes, yes.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36That's why they're so nice, you see.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Is there a future for Onion Johnnies selling onions in Britain?
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Oh, yes, oh, yes, it'll be a few years yet to go.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47- What about you, though?- Ah, well, it depends on my health now.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51- You look pretty fit. - Oh, yes, but I'm 73 now!- Yeah?
0:14:51 > 0:14:53- Do you still enjoy it?- Yes, oh, yes.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57- What do you call it? Like a drug. - You're addicted to onions?!
0:14:57 > 0:14:58Yes, yes!
0:15:00 > 0:15:02All right, so we go for our cup of tea now?
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Good, suits me just fine, Andre!
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Andre's farmed and sold his own crop since 1951,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10but when he hangs up his onion knife,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13there'll only be 20 or so Onion Johnnies left.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18While it seems the beret-wearing image is mostly
0:15:18 > 0:15:21for the benefit of customers across the Channel,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23it's that relationship with the British
0:15:23 > 0:15:26that keeps the tradition alive.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Last string of onions on the handlebars.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32I'm told by the Johnnies that, with all this weight
0:15:32 > 0:15:36on the handlebars, you can't take the bike around corners.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40And it's so heavy, it's like trying to pedal a Sherman tank!
0:15:43 > 0:15:47Merci. Would you like some onions?