He is entirely self-taught,[1] but has himself taught or employed other chefs including Heston Blumenthal,[2] John Burton-Race,[3] Michael Caines,[4] Paul Liebrandt,[5] and Marco Pierre White.

[7] Not speaking English well enough to survive without a notepad, he was dispatched to The Rose Revived in Newbridge, Oxfordshire, arriving three days after landing at Dover in his Renault 5 Gordini.

[7] Before striking out on his own in 1977, Blanc worked for a time under chef patron André Chavagnon, who had opened a French restaurant, La Sorbonne, in Oxford High Street in 1966.

[9] In 1983, Blanc purchased a manor-house in the Oxfordshire village of Great Milton where he opened Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a country house hotel and double Michelin starred restaurant.

Awarded five AA stars and with a score of 19/20 from respected French guide Gault Millau, Le Manoir describes itself as "one of the ultimate gastronomic destinations in the country".

Blanc maintains a share in the business, and continues to be involved creating new menus, developing the chef and kitchen teams and participating in the promotion of the restaurants.

[19] In March 2013, Raymond Blanc made the news with Mayor of London Boris Johnson, to publicise a scheme to get young people into the food and hospitality industry.

[21] In 2014 Blanc and Kate Humble presented Kew on a Plate, a 4-part television series demonstrating the garden growth and preparation of several vegetable dishes.

This season was much criticised for the poor standard of contestants, for neglecting the successful elements of previous series, and for Blanc choosing as the winner a team without any discernible culinary ability outside of making cocktails.

[30] During the fourth series of The Great British Bake Off Blanc made personal attacks against contestant Ruby Tandoh in online comments.

[31] Tandoh subsequently defended herself with an article in The Guardian and reflected on the anger and misogyny in online commentary about the show and responded to Blanc’s comments directly.