1. Raymond Blanc OBE was born on 19 November 1949 and is a French chef.
24 Facts About Raymond Blanc
1. 2.
Raymond Blanc is entirely self-taught, and has taught or employed chefs including Heston Blumenthal, John Burton-Race, Michael Caines, Paul Liebrandt, and Marco Pierre White.
3.
Raymond Blanc was born near Besancon, the capital of the Franche-Comte region in eastern France, between Burgundy and the Jura mountains.
4.
Raymond Blanc grew up in Saone, a village just east of there.
5.
Raymond Blanc's father gave him a colander and foraging map for his 10th birthday, and what he collected his mother taught him to cook.
6.
Training as a waiter, Raymond Blanc worked at the Michelin-starred Le Palais de la Biere in Besancon.
7.
Raymond Blanc married the owner's daughter Jenny, and the couple had two sons.
8.
In 1981, Raymond Blanc opened La Maison Raymond Blanc, a chain of boulangeries and patisseries that contain cafes.
9.
In 1983, Raymond 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.
10.
Raymond Blanc opened Le Petit Raymond Blanc, the first of a chain of smaller restaurants, in Oxford in June 1996.
11.
Raymond Blanc's aim was to bring the French philosophy of "good food being central to good living" to the United Kingdom.
12.
Raymond Blanc suffered two mini strokes when he was 42, believed to have been brought on by stress and overwork.
13.
Raymond 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.
14.
Since 1996, Raymond has opened the following branches of Brasserie Blanc:.
15.
In 2012 Raymond Blanc became the president of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, and the Culinary Director for Eurostar.
16.
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.
17.
Raymond Blanc took on twenty-one apprentices across the Brasserie Raymond Blanc Restaurants.
18.
Raymond Blanc is one of the patrons of the Children's Food Festival, which was held on the Northmoor Trust Estate in south Oxfordshire in June 2009.
19.
Raymond Blanc derided her for being thin which he claimed indicated she must not truly love baking or cooking.
20.
Raymond Blanc described himself as a "grumpy Frenchman" to explain his behavior.
21.
Raymond Blanc has made numerous appearances on many major television stations, during prime time viewing, in the UK.
22.
Raymond Blanc was a featured chef on Great Chefs television, appearing in Great Chefs of the World.
23.
However, he was nudged up a few places by James Martin, right above Ken Hom, as Raymond Blanc produced a black truffle out of his pocket and garnished the finished omelette with truffle shavings.
24.
Raymond Blanc made a guest appearance on the BBC sitcom Miranda in episode 5 of the third series.