Hi David,
I think there is some confusion there going back to the early days when the hopper only gave you one free journey. It doesn’t matter what order the touches are, buses and trams will still be free within the hour.
As for journey history, it’s not involved. The time of the first bus/tram touch is stored separately until it times out and the next bus/tram touch gets charged and replaces it. I know this because youtubers Geoff and Hugo did 25 in 60 minutes just after the facility was introduced. Hugo in fact went on to do 27 while the actual time allowed was 70 minutes, but that has since been reduced to 62.