The Bafta film awards have begun 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.

Colin Firth presented the Leading Actress award to Meryl Streep for her portrayal of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

Streep said: "Somebody once said the fate of the well-known is to be misunderstood and the ambition of this film, The Iron Lady, was to look at the life of the Iron Lady from the inside out and to locate something real, maybe hidden, but truthful in the life of someone we've all decided we know everything about already."

Hosted by Stephen Fry, the evening kicked off with a tribute to Whitney Houston from Cuba Gooding JR, who read out the nominations for the award for Special Visual Effects.

Gooding said "Whitney, I will always love you" before handing 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.

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 Make Up and Hair award went to The Iron Lady. The award for Film Not In The English Language went 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.

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.