shorts) as he had learnt to read and write himself, knew the names of many mountains, rivers and capitals, nearly all notable football players and results of matches. His childhood nickname was Bucko and his classmates at secondary school in Žitorađa described him as very intelligent for his age - he reportedly managed to often amaze his teachers with his knowledge and wit. He played handball and football and associated with everyone at his school. In the state-run history-contest named "Tito, revolucija, mir", which was held in all republics, Dačić won over 600 others. The family was described as humble and not wealthy, and as they lived off one paycheck, the parents picked mushrooms and dog rose in order to send Ivica and his sister to school. The parents sold the house in Žitorađa in 2010 and moved to Prokuplje, Desimir had until some years ago driven a 1977 Fiat 500. He went to high school in Niš, where he excelled with the highest grades (5), and graduated from the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Political Sciences, with a degree in journalism in 1989, with a highest medium grade of 10, and also won the award for the best student of scientific achievements. His sister Emica has degrees in pedagogy and drama. He was in the faculty organization Association of Communists, and in 1990 he was elected the first president of the Young Socialists of Belgrade. Political career Early years At the beginning of the 1990s, he was an editor for the short-lived newspapers of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), "Epoha". He became a member of SPS in the middle of 1991. He was the head of the Information and Propaganda staff of the SPS during the elections in 1992 and 1993, and then a minister of the Citizens' council in the first assembly of Yugoslavia, and member of the Executive Committee of the Main Board (IO GO) and Vice President of the Council for Information and Propaganda of the SPS. He was appointed member of IO GO on the second congress of SPS on 26 October 1992, with the most won votes. In the mid-1990s, Milošević's wife Mirjana Marković moved Dačić to a small office in a Belgrade suburb in order to curb his growing ambitions. Dačić was appointed member of IO GO again in the next congress in 1996, when there were major personnel changes in the