Peter Burke Hildreth (8 July 1928 – 25 February 2011) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

athlete.

Athletics career

Born in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

, he reached the semi-finals of the

110 metre hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

at the

1952 Olympic Games 1952 Olympics refers to both: *The 1952 Winter Olympics, which were held in Oslo, Norway *The 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the X ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, finishing 12th. He also represented

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 1960 Rome Games."Olympian, 80, falls foul of escalator police"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', page 10, 29 July 2008 He won the bronze medal in the 1950 European Championships in spite of a poor lane draw on a wet track.1950 European Athletics Championships medallist Peter Hildreth dies
.

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

(2011-02-27). Retrieved on 2011-02-27. He equalled the British record for the 110 metre hurdles, with a time of 14.3 seconds, on five occasions. Hildreth won the 110m (then 120 yards) hurdles event in 14.5 sec. at the AAA championships in the White City on 14 July 1956. He finished the final race only 0.1 sec. ahead o
Ion Opris
the Romanian champion, who created a major stir by running straight off the track and out of the stadium to claim political asylum in Britain. He represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 120 yards hurdles at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales.

Personal life

He was the son of Wilfred Hildreth, who represented British India at the 1924 Summer Olympics in athletics. His education was in St Paul’s School, Darjeeling. Following his retirement from athletics, he served as an athletics journalist, writing for the '' Sunday Telegraph'' and commentating on events for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

. Hildreth, in July 2008, at age 80, was banned from running up an

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

in the Elphicks Farnham department store on safety grounds. Hildreth died on 25 February 2011 at the age of 82.

References

External links

*
Interview
from Highgate Harriers * 1928 births 2011 deaths Sportspeople from Bedford British male hurdlers Olympic male hurdlers Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games European Athletics Championships medalists Japan Championships in Athletics winners People educated at Ratcliffe College British people of Anglo-Indian descent St. Paul's School, Darjeeling alumni {{UK-athletics-bio-stub