Born in Bedford, he reached the semi-finals of the 110 metre hurdles at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, finishing 12th.

[1] He won the bronze medal in the 1950 European Championships in spite of a poor lane draw on a wet track.

ahead of 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 in the 120 yards hurdles at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales.

[2] Hildreth, in July 2008, at age 80, was banned from running up an escalator in the Elphicks Farnham department store on safety grounds.