Adele tipped for glory at Oscars

Adele is hot favourite to become the first ever singer to pick up an Oscar for a Bond theme with her hit Skyfall.

Last year marked a half-century since Sean Connery first appeared on the screen in Dr No and the Academy is expected to mark the moment with a special celebration of 007 during the ceremony in Los Angeles.

And a win for Adele, nominated for best original song, would cap it off.

Bookmakers William Hill make her 1-9 on to win with only Suddenly from Les Miserables seen as offering any competition.

Ajay Chowdhury, from the James Bond International Fan Club, said she had produced a “classic James Bond song”.

He said: “Co-writer Paul Epworth echoed the best of Bond composers Monty Norman and John Barry but updated the sound and spirit.

“The iconic British songstress wrote the song especially for the film: the opening words ’This is the end’ fit perfectly with the film’s themes of death and rebirth whilst Bond’s childhood home, Skyfall is ’where it starts’.

“The song has become an instant classic and rather reflects the film it comes from: Bond as we know it but daring to go beyond the formula into something immediately familiar but also utterly modern."

Here are the nominees in the main categories for the 85th Academy Awards:

Actor in a Leading Role:

Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln

Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables

Joaquin Phoenix in The Master

Denzel Washington in Flight

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Alan Arkin in Argo

Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master

Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln

Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

Actress in a Leading Role:

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva in Amour

Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Naomi Watts in The Impossible

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Amy Adams in The Master

Sally Field in Lincoln

Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables

Helen Hunt in The Sessions

Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook

Directing:

Michael Haneke for Amour

Benh Zeitlin for Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Ang Lee for Life Of Pi

Steven Spielberg for Lincoln

David O Russell for Silver Linings Playbook

Music (Original Score):

Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina

Alexandre Desplat for Argo

Mychael Danna for Life Of Pi

John Williams for Lincoln

Thomas Newman for Skyfall

Music (Original Song):

J Ralph for Before My Time from Chasing Ice

Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane for Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted

Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri for Pi’s Lullaby from Life Of Pi

Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth for Skyfall from Skyfall

Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil for Suddenly from Les Miserables

Best Picture:

Amour

Argo

Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty