Entertainment
Bafta night kicks off with a bang
7:59pm Sunday 12th February 2012
The Bafta film awards began with a bang with Sir Tom Jones belting out the theme to the James Bond film Thunderball - more than 40 years after he first recorded the song - to mark half-a-century of the superspy's cinema adventures.
Host Stephen Fry then introduced Cuba Gooding Jr to read out the nominations for the award for Special Visual Effects.
Cuba, who paid tribute to Whitney Houston saying "Whitney, I will always love you", handed the award to Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Next up were the awards for Short Animation and Short Film which were won by A Morning Stroll and Pitch Black Heist respectively.
The Original Music award went to The Artist, while awards for Sound and Editing went to Hugo and Senna respectively.
Earlier in the night, stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Meryl Streep and Berenice Bejo walked down the red carpet ahead of the ceremony at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, central London.
The event, officially known as the Orange British Academy Film Awards, is the biggest movie bash of the year in the UK and is seen as an accurate pointer for Oscar success.
The award for cinematography was presented to The Artist by King's Speech director Tom Hooper, with the silent film also picking up the gong for Costume Design.
The award for Make Up and Hair went to The Iron Lady. The award for Film Not In The English Language was given to Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In.
Actor-turned director Paddy Considine and Diarmid Scrimshaw won the gong for Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer for their film Tyrannosaur.