Martin Poll (priest)

Martin George Poll (born 1961) is a British Church of England priest and former Royal Navy officer. Since 2012, he has been the Canon Chaplain of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and Chaplain to the Great Park. From 2010 to 2012, he was Archdeacon for the Royal Navy and Principal Anglican Chaplain of the Royal Navy Chaplaincy Services.

Early life

Poll was born in 1961 in Enfield, Greater London. He was educated at Edmonton County School, a state school in the London Borough of Enfield. He then studied English and Religious Studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1983.

Ordained ministry

Early ministry

In 1984, Poll entered Ripon College Cuddesdon. He spent the next three years training for ordination and studying theology. One of his placements during training was to the Royal Army Chaplains' Department. He did not feel that the British Army was right for him, but remained attracted to military chaplaincy,

Poll was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1987 and as a priest in 1988. From 1987 to 1990, he served his curacy at John Keble Church, Mill Hill, London. It was during this time that he saw an advertisement for the Royal Navy Chaplaincy Services. He was given a tour of the service, and found that it appealed to him.

Martin Poll

Martin Poll (November 24, 1922 – April 14, 2012) was an American film and television producer. Poll produced eleven feature films during his career, including The Lion in Winter, for which he received a 1968 Academy Award nomination for Academy Award for Best Picture.The Lion in Winter, which starred Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, received nine nominations and won three Academy Awards. It also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

Poll was born on November 24, 1922, in New York City. Poll launched his production career in 1954, when he produced thirty-nine episodes of the televisions series, Flash Gordon, for distribution in West Germany and France.

Poll purchased and restored the Biograph Studios, a studio facility and film laboratory complex in the Bronx, during the 1950s. He reopened the studios in 1956 under a new name, Gold Medal Studios. The reopening made the Bronx-based facility the largest film studio in the United States located outside of Los Angeles at the time. Poll helped create numerous films at Gold Medal Studios, including A Face in the Crowd in 1957, The Goddess in 1958, The Fugitive Kind in 1959, Middle of the Night in 1959, and BUtterfield 8 in 1960. Poll was appointed the Commissioner of Motion Picture Arts of New York City in 1959 for his work with Gold Medal Studios. The New York City government soon established its own film commission shortly after Poll's appointment. Poll sold Gold Medal Studios during the early 1960s to focus on film production.