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They share the same birthday and their sons have the same name but as far as Piers Morgan and Robbie Coltrane are concerned, it seems they have nothing else in common.

The two men nearly came to blows at London's upmarket restaurant The Ivy when the Harry Potter actor apparently took an instant dislike to the Britain's Got Talent judge.

Writing in his column in The Mail on Sunday's Live magazine, Morgan reveals how he ended up standing toe-to-toe with the hulking actor as they exchanged insults in front of a crowd of gawping celebrities.

According to the former newspaper editor, the trouble began when he was led to a table next to where Coltrane was sitting.

Fall-out: Actor Robbie Coltrane (left) took a violent dislike to Britain's Got talent judge Piers Morgan

He writes: 'Mr Coltrane - sitting just two feet away - greeted my arrival with the words "Oh ******* HELL! NOT THAT ******* ******!'

When Morgan then introduced himself, he claims the Cracker star reacted with a stream of expletives, shouting: 'Don't you ******* come near me ... if you know what's good for you, you ****!'

Yet although Morgan collects enemies the way some people collect autographs, he admits that he is baffled as to why Coltrane, who plays Hagrid in the Potter movies, took such a violent dislike to him.

Morgan, 43, recalls how, after drinking another bottle of wine, he decided to confront the actor again, asking if they had ever met before. This drew a further burst of cursing from the Scotsman. When Morgan reacted aggressively to the abuse, the men squared up.

Describing Coltrane, 58, as having 'a face like a gnarled warthog', Morgan says the actor 'staggered to his feet'.

He adds: 'The restaurant fell quiet with fevered anticipation, allowing him to let fly with one last "You're a ******* **** outburst - earning him a round of applause from four camp theatrical types nearby.

'I said, "Big words, big man. But what are you going to actually do about it?'

After spitting venom 'like a puff adder', Morgan says the actor sat down again - at which point the journalist accused him of being 'all mouth and no trousers'.

Morgan adds: 'Mr Coltrane stared at me once more, unspeakable loathing emanating from every battered crevice of his gargantuan torso. But rather than exuding the magnificent heroic air of Hagrid the giant, he more resembled Dobby, the pitiful house-elf.'

Morgan says that he is still mystified about the reason for Coltrane's outburst, but the actor is far from the first to have had a go at him.

Morgan has fallen out with Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson, models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, Cherie Blair, ex-Sun editor David Yelland, Sopranos star Vincent Pastore and, after publishing faked photographs allegedly showing soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq, large portions of the British Army.

Mr Coltrane did not comment.