Golden Globes for Adele and Les Mis

Singer Adele has triumphed at the Golden Globes in her first public appearance since giving birth - and joked that she had merely turned up for a night out with a fellow new mother.

She led the charge for British success at the Los Angeles awards bash with Dame Maggie Smith, Damian Lewis and Daniel Day-Lewis collecting some of the top acting honours.

And the film version of stage hit Les Miserables - made by British director Tom Hooper - was one of the biggest winners of the night, collecting three prizes.

Adele was victorious for her theme to the latest James Bond movie Skyfall, which took the best original song prize. It is also up for an Oscar following the announcement of nominations last week.

The singer - who attended the ceremony with Robbie Williams's wife Ayda Field - has kept a low profile since she gave birth in October. She and boyfriend Simon Konecki have still to reveal the name of their son, although she took the opportunity to dedicate the award to him. As she collected her award, Adele gushed: "Oh my God - honestly, I came out for a night out with my friend Ayda - we're new mums. We've literally come for a night out." She went on: "And this is for my boyfriend Simon who convinced me to do it and for my lovely son - thank you so much."

British-Irish star Day-Lewis received one of the biggest awards of the night, collecting the trophy for best actor in a drama for his lead role in Lincoln, in which he portrayed former US president Abraham Lincoln.

The film - which had been expected to be one of the night's biggest success stories, but left with just one award - had been introduced earlier in the evening by former president Bill Clinton. Lincoln missed out on the prize for best dramatic picture to Argo, which also collected the best director award for Ben Affleck.

Dame Maggie was the first Brit of the night to be honoured for her role as Violet Crawley in ITV's Downton Abbey, taking the best supporting actress in a TV miniseries award. But the veteran actress missed out on a second gong for best actress in a comedy or musical in her latest film Quartet.

Lewis triumphed in the best actor in a television drama category for his performance in Homeland and paid tribute to his mother. "I'd like to dedicate this to my mum, looking down on me bursting with pride telling everyone around her how well her son is doing in acting," Lewis said.

Blockbuster Les Miserables took centre stage at the awards with three gongs. It scooped the best musical/comedy movie prize while leading man Hugh Jackman collected best musical/comedy actor for his role as Jean Valjean. Anne Hathaway picked up the award for best supporting actress for her part as Fantine. "Thank you for this lovely blunt object that I will forevermore use as a weapon against self-doubt," she said.